Star vs the God of Evil
by Sir-Spoder
Summary: A Post-Cleaved fanfiction story. Just when Star and Marco thought they have found peace, out of nowhere, due to mysterious circumstances, Tom fell out of the sky and dies. Together they must figure out the mystery of how it happened and uncover the truth of a deeper evil lurking from behind the shadows in a God World beyond time and space.
1. Demoncide

Worlds collided. Dimensions collapsed. The universe – cleaved.

Magic and portals, darkness and time. These used to be simpler things in a simpler time. During a period where princesses and queens wielded the most powerful weapon in the universe – the magic wand. As a child, she wondered about the limits of the royal magic wand. Star once asked her mother what the wand could do. And her answer?

Anything.

Those were exciting times, Star could hardly contain herself when she first received it. But there was a lesson to be learned from all this.

And that lesson: maybe the magic of the cosmos was never so simple, even back then in those so-called 'simpler times.'

There were forces beyond darkness, beyond portals and beyond time. Forces that were not magical in nature. Scientific perhaps, or something else entirely. Chaotic.

Things were starting to get out of hand. Just when Star thought she could have a moment of peace to reunite and spend some quality time with all her friends.

A body fell from the sky, covered in steam and coal. The earth cracked at the point of contact. And it drew everybody's attention. Not only because of the burning heat nobody dared go near. But because none of them knew it then, at least not yet.

Tom was about to die.

Nobody saw what happened. Nobody knew how, nobody knew why.

But there he lied in the crater cracked from the fall. He struggled on his feet as the crowd of people closed in. With one hand clasping his shoulder and the other his leg, he limped towards the first person he could reach.

Grabbing Star by the shoulders, he panted his last breath:

"_HE IS NOT DEAD. NONE OF THEM ARE…_ _save… Marco… he's… coming…"_

The boy collapsed on the ground, crumbled like ashes with steam still furiously breathing out of his skin. And before long, nobody could hear his heartbeat anymore.

* * *

"What on earth is going on?"

"How did this happen?"

"Who did this to him?"

"What happened?"

"Why did he fall out of the sky of all places?"

"What did he mean by that?"

"What did he say? I didn't catch it."

"What does it mean?"

"Can you repeat that? I can't hear you."

"EVERYBODY BE QUIET!"

Marco yelled at the top of his lungs, instantly silencing the crowd. There his friends stood there staring at him from all directions. Anxiously waiting for what he had to say. Marco took a deep breath, gathered his thoughts and emotions to put up a strong façade for everybody around. It was difficult.

"Look…" he clasped his hands together, "I know you are all confused, concerned, and upset of what happened. Believe me I am, too. But we're doing the best we can to investigate what happened. And panicking and running all around unorganized aren't going to help anybody. Least of all Star. She's going through a lot right now. Tom was a long-time friend of hers, you know. He was… he was my friend too."

"Marco's right."

Janna stepped out through the crowd and hurried towards by Marco's side, standing there in front of everybody.

"What we need to do right now is to stay calm," Janna said, "and give as much support as we can. Getting all up in arms is just going to make everything worse."

"Well… alright…" Jackie said. Standing by with Chloe at her side. "We're here if you need to talk okay, Marco? We're here for you."

"Thanks Jackie."

"Keep us updated," Jackie said. "If there's anything we can do just let us know."

"Come on, Marco," Janna dragged his arm. "We've got to see how Star is doing."

Across the crater where Star sat down, being comforted by her parents and Eclipsa, there the paramedics got Tom into a stretcher and into the ambulance. They hooked him up to the devices inside, trying to pick up on a heartbeat, a breath, a single twitch in his muscles, anything.

It was difficult. The paramedics never had to deal with a demon before. They weren't entirely sure of what to do. His skin was rough, tough to penetrate and still somewhat steaming with heat.

"Star?"

Marco stood there, above this scene of silence. Neither River nor Moon said a word as they held their daughter together, fearing she could fall apart at any moment.

But when Star looked up, with tears flooding in her eyes, it did not matter to her that she might break and fall apart. She leapt away and up into Marco's arms. He too was desperately fighting as hard as he could to prevent the tears stream down his cheeks.

"He's gone, Marco," Star wept, "he's… gone."

"I… I'm so sorry, Star," said Marco, embracing her, holding her close. "I… I… I should've been there. He was my friend… and I wasn't there."

"No, Marco."

"I got complacent," Marco whimpered with his tears. "After destroying the magic and after everything. I thought…"

"No, Marco, you don't get it," she held Marco by the shoulders, trying to reassure him, "it's not that. There's nothing you could've done. Or any of us for that matter."

"What?"

"How do I say this… we… um… literally do not know how he died."

"Wait, what?"

"How is that possible?" Janna asked. "He can't just magically die out of nowhere. I thought you destroyed all the magic in the universe."

"We did," Moon responded. "But this… this is something else."

"Is it?" Eclipsa wondered. "It's awfully suspicious to me. There was no wound, no injuries, no marks of any kind from the outside except for his body's natural steam. It was as if he had just suddenly… combusted into flames."

"That doesn't make any sense," said Marco. "Tom is a demon. Their castles are literally on fire half the time."

"That's what I was thinking, too," said Star. "If only I can still do the All-Seeing Eye spell. We could've looked inside to see if there are any internal damage."

"The paramedics told us they ran a quick X-ray scan," Angie said, standing by her husband's side.

"Yes," said Rafael, "and they told us they couldn't find any trace of internal damage. No broken bones, no internal bleeding."

"BUT there is nothing conclusive as of now," Angie quickly said. "These people have never seen a demon before, much less deal with them. So they may have to run a few more tests to be sure."

"Oh, Marco," said Star, still weeping, trying to wipe them off her eyes, "what are we going to tell Tom's parents? They will be heart broken. Maybe literally. It's happened once before, Marco, I read it in the Book of Spells. It is not pretty."

"I don't know, Star… I don't know."

* * *

"Okay, let's recap what happened."

Star took in one deep breath, trying to envision the environment once more before the crater appeared from the crash. Marco, Janna, Eclipsa and Moon all stood around above the crater, looking about, trying to look for more clues to see if they had missed anything. Turning over some of the rubble and the cracks in the soil.

"Where were you all when the incident occurred?" Star said. "If we are to figure this out, we need to retrace our steps."

"I agree," said Marco. "So why don't we go around in a circle, clockwise. Let's start with you Queen Moon, your majesty."

"I'm not a queen anymore, Marco dear," said Moon. "Well, let me see… my memory is a little fuzzy what with all that has happened. But I believe if I'm not mistaken, I was following closely after you, Star dear. To where the portal was, well, before everything got cleaved together and these two worlds became one."

"My memory is a little bit hazy, too," Eclipsa joined in. "But that I do remember as well. We all… went out of the magic dimension, and the rest was just as Moon said."

"I was on the human side of things helping out Marco," said Janna, still looking about the rubble. "I bought him time with the paramedics by faking my own death, purposefully made my heart stop, just for a short while. It was actually pretty fun."

"Alright, out with it Janna," Star pointed her finger at Janna. "You're the expert at all the dark magic voodoo-hoodoo. Is this just some kind of sick prank of yours or something? How on earth did Tom die, Janna? Answer!"

"Whoa, Star," Janna raised her hands, "I know you're upset and you're frustrated, but please. You have to believe me when I say I have absolutely nothing to do with this, okay? I only know as much as you do."

"We mustn't start pointing fingers now, sweetie," said Moon. "We will figure this out once we retraced our steps."

"Ugh, but retracing our steps isn't working out right now, mom," Star groaned. "What good does that do if none of us even saw what happened?"

"Maybe we should start considering possible alternatives," Marco said. "Maybe retracing our steps isn't what we need to do. Maybe it's better to investigate the evidence we have on hand right now."

"But Marco," said Star, "we literally don't have anything."

"That's not necessarily true," said Marco. "Remember Tom's last words? '_He is not dead, none of them are. Save Marco, he is coming…'_ it must've meant something, I just know it."

"What do you think 'save Marco' means?" Janna asked. "Is he in danger? What's going to happen to him?"

"Yes, I am concerned of this, too," said Moon. "Perhaps if we narrow down who he meant when he said 'he is not dead', maybe we'll figure out who is trying to hurt Marco. He must be the one who hurt Tom as well."

"I agree," said Marco. "Think back, who has just recently died during the destruction of the magic?"

Star gasped aloud:

"Glossaryck."

"Exactly, and let us not forget the Magic High Commission as well," said Marco.

"But that doesn't make any sense," said Moon. "Why would they be a cause for alarm for Tom?"

"She's right," said Marco. "I mean, I barely know Glossaryck and the rest of the Commission… except for Hekapoo of course. And Tom knows even less than me. How could he have possibly even have any beef with any of them?"

"Perhaps…" Eclipsa said, "he was referring to someone else?"

"Yes, that is a possibility," Moon tapped her chin. "Or maybe… maybe… no, that wouldn't make any sense."

"What is it, Moon?" Eclipsa asked.

"Toffee," said Moon.

"What?" Both Marco and Star shouted simultaneously.

"I know, I know, it's a crazy idea," Moon rubbed her temples. "But I think… it's time for us to entertain such possibilities."

"But how?" Said Star, "Magic literally does not exist anymore. It's just not possible. One plus one equals two. The apple falls to the ground. And grandmas who come of age goes to the grandma farm. Things work the way they are because they have to. It just makes sense."

"Oh darling," said Moon. "If only you could realize… things aren't always so simple."

"Um, guys…" Janna called from afar. "You might want to take a look at this."

There they came around, surrounding where Janna pointed her finger. A spot that nobody had noticed before now which was odd. It was easy for any one of them to swear it was not there before. But none of them could really claim that with absolute certainty. As if gaps in their memories began to form.

A typewriter, laid on top of a small rectangular cardboard box. Both of which were surprisingly clean and well preserved. On the typewriter was a note.

"That," Janna pointed, "was definitely not there before."

Star took the note off the typewriter and began reading aloud:

"_The Last Will and Testament of Sol."_

"Sol… who is Sol?" Marco wondered.

"I don't know…" said Star, "let's find out."

Star cleared her throat:

"_I fear that he will see me and know of my whereabouts if I were to reveal my true name. So I am being very careful of what I'm writing and how I'm writing it. But this is my will, my heart and my soul. The universe is in danger. There are certain truths and laws that cannot be broken. Many things exist out of necessity otherwise reality falls apart. One of those things is magic. The first law of Thermodynamics states energy cannot be created nor destroyed, only transformed from one form into another. As such your quote unquote destruction of the realm of magic has left some dire consequences to all of reality itself. Consequences that I fear may be irreversible. By now you may feel lost, you may feel frustrated. But you mustn't lose sight of what's important. Please open the box beneath the typewriter."_

Marco immediately ripped the lid of the cardboard and swung open for all to see. They all gasped in shock.

A pair of dimensional scissors.

A small white diamond carefully and firmly secured in the middle of the black onyx handle. A simple design, but unmistakable.

Star continued to read on:

"_This is the last dimensional scissors in the multiverse. I went through a lot of trouble to get it. Do not lose it. Otherwise, we risk him coming over to our dimension in which case all hope will be lost. This scissor is imperfect, as it only allows travel to one dimension. But that dimension is the piece of the puzzle required for you to solve the current crisis thrust upon you at this very moment. Travel there, and you shall be closer to the answer."_

"Well oh boy, that's amazing isn't it," Janna cried in joy. "That means we'll finally be able to figure out what happened to Tom, right?"

"Hold your warnicorns, Janna," said Star. "There's this last line of instruction here."

Star read it out loud:

"_Be warned, only the owner of this pair of scissors is allowed to travel through the portal. Simply hold it in your hand, and think – 'I am your owner' and it shall be yours. An unfortunate imperfection that now results in a journey of risk and uncertainty. Choose carefully who will carry this burden and travel to a place beyond the stars. This is all I can say at the moment, I fear saying more shall reveal me to him. I wish you all luck, and this is my will, my will be done. Sincerely, S."_

* * *

"Guys, guys, please stop arguing, alright?" Marco waved his arms signaling everyone, "I've given this a lot of thought already. I honestly and truly believe Star would be the best candidate for this trip… and I'm not just saying that because she's my girlfriend and I love her."

"What?"

"Nevermind all that," Marco brushed it off as he blushed. "The point is – Star is an incredible person. The most amazing person I know. She has done things that I could easily call impossible. I mean, it makes no sense, impossible is impossible. But she's done it. Queen Moon, do you remember how she pulled herself back from the brink of death from the dying magic dimension to destroy Toffee?"

"It was both the most traumatic and the proudest moment of my life," said Moon.

"It was traumatic for me too," said Marco. "I still have nightmares about it. But my point is – if there's anyone who can fix this crisis, it would have to be Star."

"I just… I don't know, Marco," said Moon, scratching her head. "Normally I would agree with you. I want you to know, Star dear, that I am very proud of you for everything you've accomplished. But to send my own daughter off into an unknown place on an unknown journey possibly filled with all sorts of unknown danger? Think of what you're asking of me? Why not send me instead?"

"She makes a fair point," Eclipsa agreed. "I would be willing to go, too if you all would agree to it. I _am_ the Queen of Darkness after all. That has to mean something. What if you encounter a dark creature of some sort? That pair of scissors and its colors are pretty ominous if you ask me."

"Mom, Eclipsa," said Star holding both their hands, "I appreciate your concern but I need you two to trust me on this and let me do this. Because you two are the only ones strong enough to stay behind and take care of things, making sure it won't fall apart. You two are the only ones who know how to break the bad news to the Lucitors who should be arriving very shortly now. I don't know the ins and outs of how to make someone's sadness go away. But Eclipsa, with your music and your positive attitude, and mom with your leadership abilities, I have absolutely no doubt you two will be able to keep it together here. Because I trust in you. So please, trust in me, too."

Moon took in one massive breath before quickly pulling Star in to embrace her tightly. Star hugged her back, almost as if this was a final goodbye, even though neither of them truly believed it was. Or at the very least they hoped it wasn't. Her touch was warm, and her breath was steady, a motherly touch that Star had carried and continue to carry with her until the very end.

"Take care of yourself alright, sweetie?" Said Moon, with tears in her eyes, "Don't take any unnecessary risk. I don't want to lose you."

"I'll come back to you, mama, I promise," said Star.

"Uh oh, guys," Janna called from afar, "there is this giant demon lady who's coming over. And she doesn't look too happy."

"Good luck, mom," said Star as she kissed Moon's cheeks, "tell them I will get their son back. And that is a promise."

"Alright darling, I will."

And with that, Moon and Eclipsa took off to meet with the Lucitors. With the sound of their footsteps fading away into the endless sound of the chaos of two worlds colliding, the sound of cities and kingdoms.

"It's going to be dangerous, you know?" Said Marco.

"I know," said Star. "All journeys are."

"I know I said I trust in your abilities because you're an amazing person and all," said Marco all flustered, "but all of this is very strange to me. I'm having an incredibly hard time wrapping my head around all this impossibility."

"We'll figure it out in the end. We have to."

"How could you be so sure?"

"Because I have you at my side," said Star caressing Marco's cheeks. "And we make a great team. As long as I know I'm with you, the world just feels… right, you know?"

"Yeah… I suppose I do."

The two of them embraced each other for a good long minute. Feeling each other's heartbeats and each other's scent. They hold one another in their arms tight for what seemed like an eternity, with neither wishing to break the hold. But they broke away in the end, because they knew they would be back into each other's arms sooner or later.

"Well… here we go."

The cut tore the very fabric of the space in front of them wide open. The cut was strong, stronger than any cut Star had ever done before with any of the older scissors. Like a valve opening a flood gate wide open after years of the metal pipes rusting and decaying. Star had always taken the scissors for granted. Back in a simpler time, in simpler days when magic was still abundant, she did not fully grasp the power of the space bending in front of her very eyes. But now the very deep black space that opened up in front of her sparkled of dark light that illuminated in ways she did not think was possible, dancing off into her pupils revealing new secrets of the fabric of existence itself, and shining in colors she was not even sure existed.

Stepping through a portal used to be instinctual and natural. But now she was more careful, slowly with each of her steps with a beating heart fearful of the darkness that swallowed her up and spit her out to the other side.

It felt different, nauseating even. And she quickly learned why.

What she was staring at was a land crawling with crumbling stones and dead soil. There beyond the ruins of the once great and massive buildings, behind the cracks in the concrete was a small sun burning with red. Its crimson light pouring through the currents of the wind and into the broken windows and shattered stones lying about in pieces. Illuminating the remains of the rotten carcasses hidden beneath the rocks, skeletons and flesh of small creatures once lurking in the dark and the humid underbelly of streets paved by men walking above. All around, everywhere Star looked, nothing but the dark and the red. Not even the sun was enough to brighten up the shadows that swallowed the land. It was almost as if the sun was a slave to the shadows themselves.

The portal closed behind Star.

And there in the distant – she could hear the echo of a laugh. A familiar laugh.

There on top a pile of old rocks was a throne. And he who sat on that throne sat above the world. It was him.

Donning a dark black suit with colors sucking in all lights around his body, he sat on this throne of metal and scraps like an old god. A god older than the universe. But Star recognized that suit. She could spot it from a mile away, and thus the shock and immeasurable confusion kicked in. His skin was wrinkly and brittle, grey like a withered dying tree trying to suck out the last remaining life on the barren soil it grew from.

And his skull mask – a flat white layer with peculiar but specific patterns hiding his evil grin and his demonic eyes. His eyes glowed red, covered by the shadows of his brows. His laughed echoed, carrying the unthinkable depth and heavy weight of his voice across the land. He laughed, and he laughed, and he laughed.

"_Finally…_" he echoed, a rumbling voice that shook the very earth itself, "It's been so long…"

"No… that's… that's impossible…" Star gasped. "I refuse to believe it. Who are you?"

"I am the hole at the center of the universe. The black spot that consumes your every dark thought. Every sin you've ever committed and will commit. I am the scion of those who rebelled against the heavens and have fallen into the depths of oblivion. A might that trumps every strength, every trace of willpower you could muster. A virus that eats away at your soul, emerging during your darkest hours to subdue you under my heel, my will. When you cry out in your nightmares, looking for answers, safety, it is I, your god and master, that you see."

A tear began welling up in Star's eye:

"M… Marco?"

"Hello, my love… it's been too long."

The laugh that echoed across the multiverse.

* * *

"Marco my dear," said Moon nervously, "would you be a dear and go fetch Lady Lucitor a napkin?"

"I… I…" Marco voice cracked, "I… can't…"

"What?"

"Oh no… oh no…" Marco hunched over, holding his abdomen, coughing violently. "There's… someone in my head…"

Hosanna.


	2. Servants of Evil

"Sit down Marco my boy," Eclipsa said holding his hand. "You seem stressed out. This whole situation is doing a number on your psyche it seems."

Marco continued to cough more violently. His forehead started to wrinkle up, withering away like a tree plagued by illness. The boy blinked his eyes rapidly with every passing second. His breath was heavy, and cold.

"I guess I'm just a little bit worried is all," said Marco. "I could really use a soda."

"How about a candy bar," Eclipsa pulled a Snookers bar from her pocket. "It always makes me feel better when I'm down."

"Um… thanks… but I think I'm going to pass."

"Welp, more for me," Eclipsa tore the wrapper off, instantly taking a bite.

"I just… I just worry for her, you know?" Said Marco, holding his head down. "It all happened so fast. I mean… what if… what if it happens again? Are any us safe? What if it happens to Star? I just got her back. I can't lose her again."

"Oh, sweetie."

"He's gone… Tom is gone," said Marco. "How could I have let it happen? I… I… I should be held responsible. There are no wound or mark of any kind. But if I had been there, I could… I could have seen it."

"Oh, you stop that right now," Eclipsa said, holding Marco's hands. "You can't blame yourself for what happened. None of us saw what happened. So that burden is not for you to bear, alright? The only thing for you to do… is _GIVE IN…"_

Marco turned his head, glared right at Eclipsa:

"What did you say?"

"Huh? I said the only thing we can do now is to not give up and try our hardest," Eclipsa smiled.

Something was turning inside Marco's head. He looked around. Earth, Mewni, as one. The cities and the kingdoms all cried out the sound of its people. They talked – Marco couldn't make out what. His eyes averted, spinning in all four dimensions. A linear sight towards the one-dimensional horizon where Janna stood by the crater, searching for clues. A wider sight towards the two-dimensional sun lighting the distance, its infinite prism of light came crashing down into the ambulance where Tom lied resting, scorching the steaming surface of his skin.

And over there, an even wider and larger sight towards the three-dimensional Mewman Moon exchanging words with other three-dimensional beings similar to her own, the massive Lady Lucitor and her husband Dave.

There he sat, rubbing his eyes, unconvinced of what he saw. When he looked again, he saw their dreams. Their ambitions, their thoughts, like a bubble inflating in the space above their consciousness.

"I… I'm hungry…" said Marco. "I think… I could use a drink…"

"Ooh, want half of my candy bar?"

"No… no…" Marco waved his hand, "I'll pass."

"Why don't you sit back and relax my dear boy. I'll go fetch my guitar and maybe we'll play a little happy tune. That'll cheer you up."

"_Oh, hey Marco,"_ a crowd of voices echoed in the distance.

There Jackie, her girlfriend Chloe, Ruberiot, his wife Foolduke, they all approached, closer and heavier with each step.

"Hosanna, Marco," Ruberiot said, waving his hand.

Marco looked up, blinking furiously:

"What did you say?"

"Huh? I said hey there," said Ruberiot. "Are you alright, dude? You look a little… queasy."

"How are you holding up in there, Marco?" Jackie said as she sat down next to him.

His breath was getting heavier by the minute, dragged down by a weight no one could see or touch.

"Jackie…" he said, "How could something be so amazing and so terrible at the same time?"

"Um…"

"When the universe first formed, it was but a baby," Marco mused to himself, "dangling about like a curious cat looking for purpose and answers in things it could barely understand. It looked for sadness… and gladness. It sought both for it was curious and it wanted to live. To feel life as it is and feel everything life has to offer. I am that cat, and I have been hurt and blessed. Blessed by friendship but hurt by their deaths."

"Um… dude… what are you rambling on about," Jackie asked, confused and squinting her eyes.

"Jackie… would you be a pal and go fetch me a soda…" Marco panted, "or maybe some tacos as well."

"Um… okay?" Jackie got up on her skateboard and glided away, "Just hang tight, Marco. I'll be right back in a bit. Just… _GIVE IN…"_

"What did you say?" Cried Marco.

"I said – just don't give up," she repeated. "We'll get through this… I promise."

Hosanna.

* * *

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?" Star shouted. "How did this happen? Who did this to you? What have you done with the real Marco? MARCO! If you're still in there somewhere, give me a sign!"

The old god responded with a chuckle:

"It's good to see you, too, Star. Oh, how I've missed you so much."

Star gasped:

"Is… is this the work of the Monster Arm? '_A virus that eats away at your soul…' _is that what you're talking about? Or is it that purple unicorn from the magic? You let go of Marco right this instant you filthy dirty Monster Arm or so help me I'll…"

"Star, Star, please, you've got it all wrong," Marco grinned ear to ear. "I am not the Monster Arm… I never was…"

"What?"

"The Monster Arm," he cackled, reaching for his white skull mask, "was ME."

Star fell back down to the ground the moment he pulled his mask off revealing his true face. It was an unmistakable face, carved out of an unmistakable mold. It was the face of Marco Ubaldo Diaz. His hair was longer, darker, draping down the side of his shoulders. His skin was dry, grey and crumbling like old stones left under the mercy of time and decay. His eyes lit black and gloomy with his pupils burning red under those shades of darkness. And his smile – it was beyond thought, beyond imagination, beyond nightmares.

"No… no…"

"Ha-ha, time has done a number on me," he caressed his own rotting skin with his sharp bony fingers, "but rest assured – I am still the Marco you know and love."

"This is some kind of joke… it has to be."

"No Star, this is truth. This is reality. This is – the revelation."

"But if… if you're Marco… then this place… it's…"

"That's right," Marco cackled. "Star Butterfly – welcome to Earth."

A closer look at the blinding crimson light exploding from the sun in the distant horizon overlooking this dead barren wasteland revealed to Star one important truth, one she had not noticed before now. That was no sun – that was the Blood Moon.

The laugh that echoed across the multiverse. The laughter of a god.

* * *

"_She's a princess winning battles through the break of dawn…_" Ruberiot sung aloud from afar, in front of a crowd of people, desperately trying to lighten up the mood with his wife Foolduke by his side, juggling some rubber chickens. His voice echoed as twilight neared, carrying the sweet music to all the lands.

"Drink some water, Marco," said Moon. "You need to keep yourself hydrated."

"No… that um… no thank you," Marco held his hand up his mouth again, head getting dizzy. "I just need to… process this…"

"Oh, look at you. Star's only been gone for half an hour and here you are nearly falling apart. You poor thing."

"Half an hour?" He looked up at Moon. "No… can't be. I've been here for four hours."

"Oh, dear, and now you're hallucinating," said Moon. "Look I understand that you miss her. I've… been there myself. Almost falling apart, just like you are right now, as hard as that is to believe. But you have got to be strong for her. Whatever happens. We all still have our duties to do to investigate this tragedy, and comfort our loved ones."

The boy began coughing even more violently. His head spun. He could see in new directions, in new ways he did not think was possible before. The layers of the world were about to uncover themselves unto him. A new revelation.

"You're sweating an awful lot, my dear," said Moon as she wiped Marco's head with a napkin.

"Wait… is this… the napkin Lady Lucitor used?"

"Yeah, sorry. Globgor had to lend her his own. There aren't any with her size around. Careful. It's still warm."

"The voices… oh god…"

"Just relax… _YOUR MAJESTY…_ everything will be alright."

"What did you say?" Marco spun his head.

"Huh? Oh, it's just a joke. I said just sit back and your highness, queen Moon here will be at your service. What a terrible thing to say. I'm not a queen anymore, I mean just think abo…"

"_Evil won't deter her, 'cause magic flows through her…"_ Ruberiot's singing continued to echo.

"Hey, Marco," Jackie skated back, with a bottle of water in one hand and a large rectangular box on the other. "I got you your water here, just like you asked. Also, Britta's Tacos was closed when the incident occurred, but Oskar said they're firing up the grill again now that all these people are out here."

"Thanks… but no. I'm not thirsty…"

"Oh, come on," Jackie smiled, "just… _GIVE IN ALREADY…"_

"Wh… what did you just say?" Marco asked.

"Huh? Oh, I just said give it a try," Jackie handed him the bottle.

"Um… what's with that box you're carrying?"

"Oh, this. It's what you asked for remember?" She laid it down on the ground. "You told me to go get it back at your house. A box lying beside one of the Mackie Hand posters."

"I did?"

"Yeah, don't you remember?"

She flipped open the box to reveal inside – his sword, El Choppo. Still sharp, long and powerful. Though it did seem a little different somehow. Marco simply could not pinpoint how. It almost felt like he should be naming it something else now.

"Oh sweet, is that your sword?" Said Jackie as she marveled at the blade.

"No…" Marco responded. "This… is my limb. With it I shall cut a path into the eternity of my salvation. Where you will all follow me and my teachings, grabbing on the steel, letting it dig deep into your flesh, and let me lead you into a world beyond stars…"

"Dude… you're rambling again."

"Give me your hand, Jackie…"

Reluctantly the girl extended to the boy who quickly grabbed hold of it, holding tight to it, and examining the seamline on her palm.

"Whoa dude, your hand is like… super cold right now."

"Answer me this," said Marco. "What do you think of me?"

"Huh? Where is this coming from?"

"I have been terrible to you. And that does not feel right. When the cosmos breathes it is supposed to give life. Give you happiness, the joy of living. When the light giveth its gifts of light, shining through fires, through thoughts, it's supposed to show us truth, Delivered Truth. When the darkness taketh us into its shadowy grips, comforting us in the warmth of the black, it's supposed to show us Mercy, the Mercy of a Peaceful Death."

"Um…"

"I'm sorry Jackie… I don't know what's gotten into me as of late. It's just… Tom is gone… and now Star is too."

"Well… she'll be back, I'm sure," said Jackie nervously.

"Are you? Can you say with absolute certainty, beyond a shadow of a doubt that she will return to me? Can you guarantee that she will be back in my arms? No matter what happens?"

"I… I…"

"Thought so," Marco lowered his head, still holding onto her hand. "The evil force that took Tom will soon fall on us, too. It may even take me next."

"No, don't say stuff like that," said Jackie as she sat down next to him. "Look, I know all of this is crazy and scary to you. I'm scared, too. But you must not let it get to you. You have to fight – live. Live on for everybody. For Tom, for Star… for me."

Marco raised an eyebrow. With his breath getting heavier.

"I don't know what's going on, Marco," said Jackie, looking up at him with her sparkling eyes. "The magic, the… dimensions, it's all too much for me. But… I… I don't want to lose you. Okay?"

"Jackie…" Marco coughed once more, "will… will you… will you stay… with me?"

She nodded her head in hopeful enthusiasm.

"I'll stay for as long as it takes. Until she comes back. And if she doesn't…"

"Thank you…"

When they looked to the distance, they could still hear Ruberiot's singing voice:

"_She's a shining star…"_

Hosanna.

* * *

"Do you have any idea how massive the multiverse is?" Marco said as he sat there on his throne. "There are so… MANY universes out there. So many… so many in fact, that I just knew, I JUST KNEW if I waited long enough, one of your alternate selves would cross over here eventually. Due to the nature of literal infinite possibilities. All I had to do… was wait."

"So this is really Earth…" Star stared around the dead land in awe. "What evil could've possibly done something like this."

"Some universes are so similar to one another; you could spend a billion lifetimes searching for a difference and even on your deathbed you would still see none. Other universes – so different, so strange, in every way imaginable, making it hard to even believe they once diverged off of one world, one singular timeline."

"What happened to this place?"

Marco smiled:

"You did."

"Excuse me?"

"Or rather," his grin instantly disappeared, "you never did."

"You better start making sense right now or so help me I'll…"

"In my universe," Marco cut her off, "the cleaving of the two dimensions never happened. And thus… I lost you to the other side of the portal – forever."

"Oh…"

"And because magic was destroyed from my universe… there was no other way back. With Hekapoo's and Omnitraxus Prime's death, space got locked in its place. Unable to be broken or altered. Reality should've collapsed."

"Why didn't it?" Star asked.

Marco's grin emerged back on his face:

"A simple cosmic truth most Stars and Marcos in infinite other timelines do not understand. Hekapoo, Omni, Glossaryck, these beings cannot be killed so easily. They are gods above gods. Above time and space. Every version of these gods in each of the infinite universes in the multiverses is just one single aspect of a nigh omnipotent whole existing outside of reality."

"Okay, you're losing me here," Star rubbed her forehead. "Just give it to me straight. What happened to this version of Earth? Where are your parents? Where is Jackie? Janna? Where is everybody?"

"Don't you understand?" Marco's eyes glowed of demonic red. "_I am what happened to this place."_

"WHAT?" Star shouted, consumed by shock, "You went mad and… and… and killed everybody? Just… just because the portal to Mewni didn't open up?"

"I did not kill them," said Marco. "I. AM. A. GOD. All that has ever been and ever will be has become a part of me. This New World is me. And soon – the universe – nay, the multiverse itself shall follow suit. Soon, the portal on MY universe's Mewni won't need to open up. For I shall be everything."

"You're saying this happened because you got separated from your Star?"

A horrified look suddenly crawled onto Star's face. Only now realizing the implication of the events that had unfolded before her eyes.

"Oh no," she gasped, "what if… what if this happens to MY Marco, too? Could it happen? I can't let that happen. I need to go back now."

"Ah, not so fast, daughter of Mewni," Marco cackled, wagging his finger. "The blade you hold, the dimensional scissors. The last dimensional scissors in the multiverse – it only has two cuts it can make. One for each blade. A result of its imperfection. You already used one portal to get to this dimension. You only have one left. If you use your last one, you will never be able to stop my advances against the multiverse."

"WHAT?" Star shouted, glaring at the scissors, "No, no, no, no, no, it can't be. You're bluffing. How do you even know any of that? Unless…" the girl widened her eyes, "are you… are you the one who sent us the typewriter and this pair of scissors? _Are you the one named Sol?"_

Marco merely responded with a long series of hysterical cackle, howling across the land, echoing the rough heavy depth of his vocal cords. It almost felt like he would eventually bleed out of his throat. The laughter was loud, echoing throughout the space, carried by time and wind.

He then replied simply:

"Maybe… maybe I am. Maybe I'm not. It's hard to tell when my skin crawls across the land so far. When my bones become the tectonic plates of the world. When my eyes become the sun and the moon in the sky. Mmmha-ha-ha-ha, HA HA HA! Behold – your God of Evil arrives. When he does, you will know the face of God. You will know the bite of my virus. You will taste the spread of my poison. And you will kneel and serve your master. For I am that I am. And I am the hell and never-ending nightmare that keep watch over your lives. The lives that you WILL give unto your God of the New World. No will be greater than mine, and no strength may overcome me."

"Enough of the babbling," Star howled in anger, steadily wielding her scissors. "What if I take care of you right here right now? I have a weapon in these scissors here and I'm not afraid to…"

She stopped herself from finishing the moment her eyes laid upon what Marco was holding as he sat arrogantly on his throne of scraps and stones. Her legs gave out, dropping on the crumbling soil, weakened by the massive shock that nearly paralyzed her every thought and feeling.

The magic wand.

The old god chuckled under his breath, playing around with the wand in his rocky bony fingers.

"Mewmans are so interesting," he grinned. "They can learn to open portals to the magic and draw power from there without the help of a wand. Dipping Down as they call it. Though convenient, it lacks true power. Tell me, Last Daughter of Mewni. Can you outrace the weapon that can do anything? Can you outrun a wishing machine capable of miracles? Can you surpass the very limits of speed and thoughts?"

* * *

"Oh Marco…"

"Jackie… help me up…"

"Yes, Marco, yes… I'll be here for you."

"Wrathmelior… help me to her. I must speak with her."

"Please, Marco, don't go. She'll burn you in the underworld. Scatter your soul across the world. Don't go, Marco. Don't…"

And thus, Marco interrupted her with a kiss. A passionate kiss. With one hand lovingly caressing her golden locks of hair flowing in the distant wind like waves crashing upon the shores, and the other stroking her smooth puffy cheeks, holding in his palm as one would hold a fruit forbade by the heaven itself. Jackie closed her eyes for that brief moment, letting herself go deeper into the endless streams of the cosmic waters flowing down a waterfall too tall for anyone to see. She fell down the water, and she couldn't be happier.

"Come with me, Jackie. Come with me."

"Yes Marco. Yes. Take me with you," cried Jackie as she held onto the side of his arm. "I still love you. Please don't leave me."

"Hey, Marco," Ruberiot waved his hand as he approached. "You've got to check this out. I wrote this new song to ease the tension after the whole Tom situation. I really think his parents Lord and Lady Lucitor will be touched by what…"

Marco cut him off instantly with a vicious backhand slap straight across the face. Sending the songstrel flying to the ground. He rubbed the back of his bony hand as it swelled and grew red.

"Rewrite it," Marco commanded, as he coughed. Rubbing the side of his temple, "get… get the noises out… my head… ugh… someone get me a soda… where… where is Eclipsa?"

"Oh, yes, yes, you're right," said Ruberiot, scrambling to get on his feet. "Of course. I don't know what I was thinking. Now, alright, let's see here. Let's start with a simple tune. Maybe even a little story. Who doesn't love a good story? Fairy tales of twins separated from birth and…"

"Get to it, Ruby!" Marco commanded.

"Ah, yes, yes, yes. Of course, of course, my bad. Let's get to some lyrics now. Let's start simple and small. How about… hmm… _HALLELUJAH…"_


	3. God of Propaganda

"I can't believe you'd just let him slap you around like that," said Foolduke. "You know what? I'm not having any of it. I'm going to go talk to him. Nobody smacks around my husband like this."

"Oh, honey please," Ruberiot reached for her shoulder. "Let's not make a scene here. A lot of these folks are going through some things right now. It's not right to just go up to them and start some trouble."

"How could you be so complacent?" Cried Foolduke. "He literally slapped you right across the face!"

"Just try to put yourself in his shoes," said Ruberiot as he tuned his lute. "One of his best friends just passed away not long ago. And worst of all is they don't even know the cause of death. It must be so traumatic."

"Hmm…"

"Just… sit down and relax alright? How about we all gather around? Hmm… yes, I think that'll do us all some good. Come, gather around everybody," Ruberiot waved to the distressed crowd of people.

They all came gathering – like bugs.

Tired, confused, concerned, anxious bugs. There were tourists, some bystanders, some students, even members of the press and even some monsters along the side. All curious to know what was going on.

"Gather around everyone… gather around…" Ruberiot cleared his throat. "Gather around… children. There is much to be said, much to clarify."

"What is going on here?"

"Yeah, someone fell out of the sky or something?"

"Would you be willing to do an exclusive interview with us and… come on, get the camera working already."

"Did somebody have a skydiving accident?"

"All good questions, my children," said Ruberiot. "But consider this instead."

With a stroke of his lute, a magical tune started to play. It resonated its sweetness to all those willing to hear – all those willing to be tempted.

"Ask yourselves this my children," Ruberiot sang. "What makes life worth living? What is it that we are all striving for? Why do we wake up in the morning, go to work, send our children to school, and work hard from dawn 'till dusk? What is the purpose to all that we do? Money? Pleasure? Power? Hope? Or something else entirely?"

They all looked to one another, wondering what he meant by all this and what he was trying to accomplish. Ruberiot continued:

"Just think my children. At any moment the fate of our demon friend, may he rest in peace, can be replicated within any one of us. ANY one of us, all around. Destiny shows no favor, no Mercy. Carrying us far away from Peaceful Death. And in that moment, you would realize that everything you've done up until that point has become meaningless. All of it! Every single one. Every decision you've ever made. Every investment you've ever made, every bill you've ever paid, every meal you've ever eaten, every girl you've ever kissed, every movie you've ever watched, every book you've ever read. All of it! It does not matter."

The confusion started to die down somewhat as the crowd leaned in to listen. Ruberiot continued:

"So then I ask you all once more. What makes life worth living? Can anyone hazard a guess? Come on, let's all be true to ourselves now. Look deep within and into that dark alley within your hearts. Find that glimmer of hope, hope that keeps on giving you life. What – makes – life – worth – living?"

"I wake up in the morning every day and go to school because the school pays me," Principal Skeeves said from within the crowd.

"Ah, yes," Ruberiot pointed to the principal, "so material possession is what motivates you. Simple, primal and raw. Not bad. Who else? Who else wants to share and testify?"

"I joined the cheerleader squad so I can get super popular all around the school," said Brittney Wong.

"Yes, YES," Ruberiot struck his lute, "the admiration and approval of one's peers. Their love and adoration. All great desires of the primitive minds of all Homo sapiens kind. What else? What else? Come, my children. Share with us."

"I just want to fight," said Jorby the wolf monster. "Like, ya know… fight? Because that's like… what I do. And I love doing it."

"YES! Why fight against your inner nature when you all can just _GIVE IN_ to it? Mortal minds of all kinds, monsters, Mewmans, or even humans are born with the innate ability and desire for conflict. It's just part of nature. Predators hunt preys. The mightier alpha becomes the leader of the pack. The strong survives, and the weak dies out. So wouldn't it make sense to conclude then that the cause of the demon's death is due to his own weaknesses and shortcomings?"

Everyone stared at each other in confusion. Ruberiot explained as the tune of his lute echoed on:

"Think about it. If the demon boy there hadn't been weak, had he just _GIVE IN_ to his inner nature and do what he was supposed to then he wouldn't have been dead now, would he? We good folks here are on the side of the angels, on the side of good because we do what we are supposed to do. We do as we are designed to do. We _GIVE IN_ to our inner selves and rid ourselves of doubts and fears. HOSANNA!"

The crowd began nodding in agreement. Humming along to the tunes. Ruberiot continued:

"We do as we wish, and thus we live on as long as the cosmos breathes, giving new life to walk the earth. We do what feels right, thus it must means we are doing what IS right. HOSANNA!"

The crowd shuffled around, conversing with one another under their breaths. Ruberiot sang on:

"Together with our combined efforts and willpower we will be able to move the stars themselves. This new realm, this new world cleaved together by a second magical world is proof of that. It is by our will that our world has been united with another. A reward from a higher power for our strength in unity and our obedience to our inner nature. HOSANNA!"

"HOSANNA!" The crowd shouted back.

"Let it be known," Ruberiot continued, "that despite us being on the side of angels, despite getting favors from the cosmos, we are still not perfect. Along the way we will still falter from the path of righteousness thus resulting in our own mortality, our age, our decay as time goes by. It is an unsettling truth I know, but it is true – we may still die when the time comes."

"I don't want to die," Principal Skeeves shouted from the crowd. "How do I become immortal?"

"I'm glad you asked my son," Ruberiot's sweet voice pierced the heavens itself. "Unless we learn the truth to the secrets of our lives, of ALL our lives, then it is most certain that we will share the same fate as the fallen demon from the heaven. That is why I am here for you all my children. Here I am, an agent of the dark cosmos, here to Deliver the Truth you want to hear. Here to rid you of fears and doubts and extend my master's hand to welcome you all into his kingdom. What you need to do is simple – just let yourself go. Let yourself go, not just to be consumed by your inner nature and your dark thoughts, but let yourself go of the material worlds and desires. Rid yourselves of temptation, rid yourselves of choice, rid yourselves of hope and in the end rid yourselves of your very own will. Let yourselves be consumed by the righteousness of the dark void where your heart is. Replace love with worship. Replace trust with Betrayal. Replace Destiny with FREEDOM. HOSANNA!"

"HOSANNA!"

"Release your inner anguish, let it be extinguished like a flickering flame as you give yourselves up unto the cosmos. Release yourselves of the burden of choice and will. Allow your soul the complacency it needs to rest and hog away selfishly all the desires you have ever wanted and will ever want."

"HALLELUJAH!"

"Join me my children," Ruberiot sang at the top of his lungs, "join me on the path to TRUTH and I shall Deliver you unto him. Join me and the chaotic forces and confusion of the universe shall be lifted away from your lives forever. Leave your free will and choice by the door. Give yourselves unto your new god and master and he shall replace your fears and doubts with obedience. Obedience to his evil, obedience to his black heart. Most importantly, obedience to his _Heinous_ and all of the acts of cruelty in the universe."

Hosanna.


	4. God of Betrayal

"Something's wrong," said Moon. "Something is very wrong with that boy Marco."

"Maybe he is sick or something?" Janna wondered.

"No," Moon shook her head. "No. Something is definitely not right. It's not like any sickness I've ever seen. He's not acting rationally. I think we need to start considering the possibility of possession. Perhaps even the demonic kind. I've seen it before when Toffee took over the body of Ludo."

"Ooh, what if he's being possessed by Tom's spirit?" Said Janna. "Maybe he's trying to tell us something from the other side?"

"Maybe," Moon tapped her chin. "We cannot rule out any possibility. Have you seen Eclipsa around? Where did that woman go off to?"

Janna shrugged.

"Something is coming… and it isn't good."

* * *

"Mister Ruberiot, sir," the reporter called out desperately.

"Please, madam," Ruberiot smiled. "Call me – Voiceful Ruby. I have been reborn, love. To be better suited for my tasks."

"Can you tell us more about the events that have transpired here today?" Asked the reported, shoving a mic to Ruby's face. "What exactly happened? Did someone die? What was the cause of death?"

"I, of course, have my own theories on the matter," smiled Voiceful Ruby. "But that wouldn't be right for me to present you with theories and speculations over facts and truths, now would it? It is a difficult matter for all of us to tackle and process yes, but I believe we now have a definitive answer to what had transpired here today."

He cleared his throat, and struck his voiceful lute:

"For you see, the answer is obvious now isn't it? Just think about it. What was the one recent event that had the world turned upside down and disrupted the natural order of things? What was the one significant catalyst of recent memory that changed everything we know about life on this planet as we know it? Answer me that. Hmm? That's right, it is the merging of the two dimensions to create this hideous hybrid of celestial bodies. It has tarnished the green fields of corn on Mewni and sabotaged the factories and cities on Earth. It has destroyed the lives of countless innocent humans, countless innocent hard-working humans may I add, who wanted absolutely nothing to do with all these magical mumbo jumbos and at the end of the day just want to get by with what little they had. And they couldn't even be given that one measly privilege. Instead, their little pathetic lives just had to be ruined by this meddling magic that is spreading all over the place. Nobody wanted it, nobody needed it, nobody asked for it."

"So what are you saying exactly?" Asked the reporter, "Could you elaborate on that? It's been months since the two worlds were cleaved together. What is the correlation here exactly?"

"Isn't it clear, my love?" Voiceful Ruby smiled, "I am saying it is all due to those darn magical Mewmans' fault that you poor humans had to suffer so severely. It is due to their meddling with the magic and the natural order of things that many of you now no longer have a roof over your heads. Everything was going swell for all you lovely humans before the dirty filthy Mewmans – and not to mention the various Monster races accompanying them, which I also say are equally despicable – decided to just waltz into this dimension and take what is not theirs. How unjust is that?"

* * *

"Tell me Dave," Marco growled. "What hurts more? My fist… or my slap?"

The boy held Lord Lucitor's neck in his sharp bony hand, gripping tightly into his flesh and onto the bruises. Marco's breath was heavy, too heavy for anybody to carry. The wrinkles on his face began to surface and became more pronounced. Bags formed under his eyes, and his pupils were shining brighter with some strange red. Sweat and blood dripped down his face, right onto Dave's bruised and unconscious face. Marco's head was spinning in newer directions now. He could see things that were normally invisible to the naked eyes. He could see them, and he had no intention of stopping. He wanted to see more.

"This is what pain feels like, Dave," Marco whispered. "Savor it. I have a thousand more flavors to show you. I wish your pathetic excuse of a son is still alive to see this. What I would give for him to feel the piercing of my heart when he backstabbed me and took Star for himself while I was away. I want you to know this, Dave. I despise your son. That means I can't let you join him in oblivion, not just yet. An eternity of pain awaits, Dave. And I've got an eternity to spare."

Marco raised his hand, the claw of his fingers sharpened, and his palm tightened into a force beyond strength itself. And thus, his mighty hand was brought down with unholy fury, striking Dave's face without Mercy in sight.

"Wake up, Dave!" He shouted. "You're going to watch this, and I'll claw out your eyeballs if that's what it takes. _Open them!_"

Dave gradually opened his eyes under the layers of bruises, ever so slightly. It hurt to even twitch them even an inch. But a force beyond his control, beyond his understand was forcing them open, like a crowbar prying off a metal locker.

The lord looked around the wreckage, and behind Marco he could see his wife – Wrathmelior lying on the ground. With her red skin cracked and turning grey, and her pupils white and empty as if her soul was plucked right out of her massive frame.

"What… did you do to my wife?" Dave muttered in pain, trying to keep his near broken teeth intact. "B… bastard!"

"I've broken her. Enslaved her with her own grief. She believes you dead, Dave. Just as she grieves for her son. Before long, she won't even wish to believe anything other than what I say as reality. And I say reality is about to commit a form of cosmic suicide. She is mine now, Dave!" Marco's face twisted into a violent grin, as if whatever was left of him was desperately trying to fight the urge to laugh so loud his voice would echo across the universe.

"Marco, STOP!" A voice boomed in front of him.

He looked up, with his violent grin still on his face. And there Kelly stood.

With teary eyes and a shrill shriek, the girl did everything in her power to beg. She threw her sword away, it was her way of saying she just wanted to talk. But that was not how Marco saw it.

"Kelly…"

"Marco you need to stop this right now," she cried. "You're not well. This violence has to stop. I know losing Tom is hard for you to deal with, but what you're doing is wrong."

"Kelly…" he whimpered as his face began to soften. And his grip on Dave's neck loosened, dropping the near unconscious body to the ground. Marco too collapsed onto his knees, keeping his head down beneath the shadows.

"Oh Marco…" Kelly did not hesitate to swoop in for a hug. She felt he needed one. Lots had happened, and she thought it must've done a good number on his nerve. She held him tight, afraid if she let go, he would shatter into a million pieces.

Truth was…

That should have been the least of her concerns.

"You were never good enough, Kelly…" he whispered into her ears.

She flinched, opening her eyes wide open.

"Admit it," he said, "you were always just a whiny pathetic little brat who couldn't handle your own petty relationship problems. You wanted to use me to fix those problems within you."

"Where is this coming from?" Kelly looked at Marco, confused.

"You used me, Kelly. Used me during my moments of vulnerability. Because you felt inadequate and insecure."

"That's not true," she whimpered.

"Face the truth, you wanted me just to compensate for your own shortcomings. Because I was easy target. I was weak, I was broken. Deep down you knew you could never truly measure up…"

"No, no… stop…"

"Deep down you were jealous," Marco's eyes sparked with red, "jealous of my love for Star – my true love. You were nothing but a breakup buddy, a one-time fling at best."

"NO!"

Kelly flung herself right on top of Marco, with tears soaking her eyes and her heart beating faster as the seconds went by.

"Please Marco… don't say that," Kelly sniffed, her cheeks now soaking wet. "You weren't just a one-time fling for me. What I felt for you… it was real… it was real…"

"How can you say that with absolute certainty?"

"Because I never felt like that about anyone, not even Tad."

"Tch…" Marco sneered, "You were just jealous is all. Jealous I did not fight against Tom or Tad for you the same way I fought against Tom for Star. You were just jealous you weren't at the center of attention. That's all it is."

"NO!" Cried Kelly, "That isn't true. Please, Marco, don't say that. I'm begging you. Please… I… I… I love you, Marco. There I said it. Just… please… I love you."

There was only one thing on her mind at that moment, that brief infinitesimal moment that more likely than not meant absolutely nothing in the face of infinity itself. But it did not matter to her. She only cared for one thing, for one person. And that moment, Marco's eyes glowed redder than ever before.

The boy pulled Kelly in by the waist, brushing her bushy green hair to the side of her ear, and gave her a long passionate kiss. She was caught off guard, tears still wet in her eyes but in that moment that did not matter to her. She had begged, she had implored, and now she had been rewarded. It was all she cared for in the world, so she embraced it with every fiber of her being and let herself loose deep into this nigh eternal sensation that stimulated every part of her body. Her heart raced, her mind glowed, and her soul strengthened by tenfold.

Once his unholy but heavenly lips left hers, she felt a thousand years younger, and yet she felt as if a thousand years more had passed right before her eyes.

"Kelly," Marco's red gleaming eyes looked at her, "do you truly mean what you said?"

"Yes, yes, I do."

"Do you truly love me?"

"I do."

"Then will you do anything for me?"

"I will," she answered instantly.

"Anything at all? No matter the cost? No matter the consequences."

"Yes, I will," she answered instantly.

Marco nodded:

"Will you travel to the edge of the world… nay, the edge of the universe itself… if it means it could please me? Will you carry out my will just as it is your own? Will know my wishes and carry them out without question?"

"Yes," she answered simply, and decisively.

"Very well," Marco stood up. "Then my first mission I ask of thee – to turn your back as I plunge my blade into your spine."

Kelly sat there, mortified at what she heard. Tears welling up once more. Marco continued:

"My second mission I ask of thee – is to betray everyone you've ever known and swear your undying loyalty to me and me alone. You will betray your friends, your family, everyone you've ever known. You will leave your old life behind in favor of this new life, the life I've chosen for you. Your past life will be but a distant memory, and you will devote everything, absolutely everything to me."

"But…"

"Do you want my love for you?"

"Yes, but…"

"Then you shall ask no questions unless I will it," Marco affirmed, silencing the young girl. "And finally, my third and final mission I ask of thee – is to betray your own humanity. Detach yourself from this world and everything within. Detach yourself from your emotions, your willpower, your illusion of choice. Detach yourself and give yourself unto me – the one and only person who matters in your life from this point onward. And when the time comes – you will inevitably betray me, your lord and master, as well as the rest of the universe as a final act of cosmic suicide in my name. Do you understand?"

"Marco…"

"_Do you understand?"_

She fell silent. Sitting there, but ultimately all she could muster was the adequate amount of strength to just barely nod her head and answer:

"Yes."

* * *

"There's no doubt about it now," Moon said. "Marco is being possessed. It's only been a few hours since the incident with Tom and the cleaving of the worlds and yet Marco… something is definitely not right here. We need to figure it out now before it is too late."

"Where on earth did Marco get that kind of strength?" Janna asked. "I've never seen anything like it before. It's freakish… superhuman. Is… is he being possessed by a demon? It's not like any demon I've ever seen."

"No Janna," said Moon. "We're not dealing with demons, Mewmans, monsters, or even magic. No… we are dealing with gods."

"Um… not sure I'm a believer, Mrs. Butterfly."

"Well, you better believe this one," Moon assured. "These are beings so powerful they can rewrite the very fabric of reality itself if they ever feel the need. The Magical High Commission back on Mewni were technically classified as these pan-dimensional cosmic gods as well. I've just… never really seen their true forms and powers."

"I hope for our sakes… that your theory isn't true."

Moon sighed:

"Me too, Janna… me too."

"Star's been gone for quite a long while now," Janna commented. "I wonder what's keeping her. Do you think she's found something interesting on the other side?"

"I don't know…" Moon muttered. "Oh, I worry for her. What if she got stuck and needs our help? We need to do something."

"But what? We're stuck here," said Janna. "Star was holding on to the last pair of dimensional scissors."

"There may be something we can do," said Moon. "It's just… risky."

"What?"

"We need to summon Wyscan the Granter."


	5. Delivering Truth

"No offense, Mrs. Butterfly," said Janna. "But this plan of yours makes no sense. You all said you've destroyed the magic. And if Wyscan is magic…"

"I know what it sounds like, Janna," Moon cut her off. "It sounds crazy, but we have to at least take the gamble."

"What exactly is the gamble here?"

"It's a plan that hinges on the possibility that the magic may not have actually been destroyed. Quantum mechanic's many worlds interpretation as some of your Earth scientists call it. We call it something similar back on Mewni as well – Skywynne's theory of the many realms. The idea that infinite amounts of universes exist within the multiverse due to nigh infinite amount of branching options and decisions made within each reality by their inhabitant thus diverting the timeline, creating a whole separate reality. So, if that were to be the case, then when we say we have destroyed all the magic in this universe, it is only _this_ universe's magic that we are referring to. Therefore, we can conclude that there are pools of magic out there in at least one other neighboring universe as well."

"You lost me right after you mentioned the word quantum," said Janna. "My brain just kind of… zoned out and went to sleep to protect itself from melting."

"Wyscan is an agent of Desire," Moon explained, "an aspect of Endless. A wish master who would grant anyone any wish as long as he gets something in return of equal value. He is a necessary part of life, a part of reality. Getting rid of magic may not necessarily get rid of him, even if parts of him may be considered magical."

"So how exactly do we get to him?"

"Well… we don't. Not really," Moon cleared her throat. "He can be summoned by an act of divine desire."

"What does that even mean?" Janna asked.

"It means to desire something not of this world. Something that isn't petty, but instead significant, mostly cosmic. Such as divine knowledge of what is really going on and who is possessing Marco."

"_Yes, indeed my dear. That would definitely do it."_

"AH!" Moon and Janna screamed simultaneously, flinching as they realized the blue elf was already right behind them. Behind him – a massive gate that towered over many buildings nearby was glowing with mystic runes and colors without names. It was as if the gate was there all this time, sneaking behind Moon's and Janna's blind spots, quietly observing the both of them.

"I heard your call, Moon the Undaunted," Wyscan smiled with glee. But that smile faded almost instantly for some strange reason. "We haven't got much time. You need to come with me through my gate before _he_ realizes a portal has opened up without the use of dimensional scissors. Then it's only a matter of time before he puts two and two together."

* * *

"Look at that, Ludo," Dennis pointed into the distance. "I'm pretty sure that was not on Mewni before."

"Want to go check it out, Dennis? It could be fun."

"I don't know. Seems kind of dangerous if you ask me."

"Oh, come on, where's your spirit of adventure?" Ludo nudged his brother.

"Our castle almost fell apart from that quake earlier. I just think we should stay and defend it in case something happens."

"Pfft, what could possibly go wrong?"

"LUDO, DENNIS," Zudo their sister shouted below the stairs. "There's someone here at the door. What should I tell him?"

"Who is it, Zudo?" Ludo shouted back.

"_It's the Monster King Globgor."_

"Globgor?" Exclaimed Dennis, "What does he want with us?"

"Let's find out," Ludo shrugged, as he shouted back down the stairs, "_let him in, Zudo!"_

* * *

"Listen to me very carefully," Wyscan said with gloomy eyes. "As an agent of Desire, I am forbidden from interfering with the affairs of any creature in the lower dimensions. I can still grant you whatever it is you want with a fair trade. I just can't directly interfere and help you out of the current predicament."

"Doesn't bringing us here to your realm count as directly helping us?" Janna asked.

"No," he responded. "You summoned me, fair and square."

"So my hunch was right after all," Moon said to herself. "This matter is of cosmic significance. The theory is being proven truer by the seconds."

"By the picoseconds you mean," said Wyscan. "When you leave this realm, exactly five picoseconds would have passed. That is more than enough time for him to have noticed, so you will need to act fast."

"I'm sorry," Janna sighed, rubbing her eyes, "but you keep referring to this someone. 'He will' this, 'he will' that. Who exactly are you referring to?"

"I cannot tell you," said Wyscan. "Please forgive me. Unless you have divine knowledge of your own to offer then there is nothing I can tell you about the matter."

"Divine knowledge like what exactly?" Asked Moon.

"It all depends on what you want to know. As long as it is of equal value and significance. For instance, you can't expect to learn about the ruler of Mewni in the neighboring universe by telling me about your first crush. Though…" he began chuckling under his breath, "that would be quite juicy to learn. Think of all the drama. Oh, and you probably shouldn't try offering something physical, too. What you're seeking is knowledge after all, correct? It's difficult to measure equivalency between the two."

"Well… let's see here," Moon tapped her chin. "What I want to find out is what exactly is going on."

"That's too broad, Mrs. Butterfly," said Janna. "You've got to narrow it down."

"You're right. Hmm… what if… I were to ask who Marco is being possessed instead?"

"Shouldn't we ask how Tom died and who murdered him though?" Janna asked.

"Ooh, this ought to be good and juicy," Wyscan smiled. "All those questions are still very costly. I do hope you have something valuable to share."

"Look," Moon said to Janna. "We need to be careful about this. I do not have a lot of knowledge left to share."

"But… aren't you the queen of Mewni or something?" Asked Janna.

"Was, Janna dear, was. We simply cannot risk wasting our one question, our one chance of learning the truth, even if it's just a small piece of it. Just think about it, there is a very, VERY high possibility that whoever is possessing Marco right now is also the one behind Tom's death. It's just too much a coincidence in timing otherwise. If we ask who killed Marco and how, there's a good chance Wyscan would tell us something we've already strongly suspected. And we would've gained nothing."

"Hmm… yeah, I guess you kind of have a point."

"On the other hand," Moon continued, "think of what we would gain if we were to ask about the identity of the one behind all this. The very source of the problem itself. We might even be able to go to him directly."

"So," Wyscan offered his hand, "Do we have a deal? Time is of the essence my dear."

"You'll just have to give me a minute," said Moon, "to gather my thoughts and remember…"

But out of nowhere, Moon was interrupted with a massive shockwave exploding through the space above them, tearing through it like a thin sheet of tin foil. There a light of spiraling strange colors erupted, and a hole opened up revealing a small shadow in the distance.

The closer the shadow approached, the more Moon and Janna began to see what was behind the hole. Or rather, who was behind the light hole.

The person was somewhat short and had long brown hair, so their mind immediately went to thinking it was a girl. As the light began revealing more and more of her, they could slowly make out the sleek blue spandex outfit she was wearing, it almost resembled a space suit of some sort.

But then Janna saw something that made her mind race. This specific complexion of this girl's skin, her beautiful brown eyes.

And the mole.

"QUEEN MOON, JANNA!" The girl shouted, "Stay away from Wyscan! _He's a servant of evil!_"

The girl finally came into the light, and Janna couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"You!" Wyscan gasped. "Moon, daughter of Mewni, don't listen to her. We haven't got much time, you must…"

Once again, Wyscan was cut off by a second shockwave – a second spiraling hole filled with strange lights burst into the scene, following shortly after the first. This time a larger shadow emerged, both Janna and Moon also quickly recognized the figure as female, but she was not alone. This time the figure rode on top the back of a powerful wolf beast with sharp red fur and metal fangs. The monster's eyes were vengeful, fast, and without Mercy. The girl riding on top was also the same, clad in heavy armor with smooth aquamarine hair tied up and stretching long behind her as she went, like a tail of a gigantic snake. Her eyes were not obscured by hair, and it was clear those eyes were thirsty for blood.

"RUN!" The brunette yelled, "IT'S THE GOD OF BETRAYAL!"

* * *

"Heeeeyyyy… wait a minute," said Ludo, staring at the person in front of him. "You're not the Monster King. Is this some kind of prank? Are there hidden cameras around here?"

"No, I'm not the Monster King. But I am his daughter."

"Buff Frog," Dennis pointed his finger to the one behind the girl. "What are you doing here?"

"Long story," Buff Frog replied, "but… I hear… voices in my head."

"I can explain," said the girl. "I can explain _everything_, but right now I need you all to trust me and come with me this very moment. We haven't got a lot of time."


	6. God of Surviving Flesh

"HALLELUJAH!" Voiceful Ruby cheered. "For the day of judgement nears. Here by the grace of our lord can we live another day in the peace of man and mortal, the peace undisturbed by the foul alien forces of this strange new world Mewni, where their monsters and men roam far and wide, bringing war and destruction where they go. But fear not, my children. For it is by the miracles of thy lord and master that we will be kept away from harm. BEHOLD!"

There above a pile of metal scrap, crumbling soil and burning garbage, above Lady Wrathmelior's near lifeless grey body, there the boy stood. His skin was cracking, and he was coughing even more violently now. With clear smog emanating from his incredibly heavy breath.

On his right hand, clawing into the flesh on the neck of the Underworld's Lord. Dave could barely keep himself awake amidst this pain. It wasn't up to him either way. He wanted to sleep, but by a will above his own he was forced into this waking world.

On the boy's left hand – Tom's limping lifeless body.

The steam of his skin was starting to take its toll on the corpse's skin, eating away at every molecule it could get its teeth on. The demon's eyes were empty, soulless. Resting far from the world of the living and deep into oblivion.

And yet by some unholy miracle – Tom began to move.

The body limped off of Marco's sharp grasps. His legs were unstable and skinny, lacking in muscle fibers and nutrients. His arms were draping off their hinges like earrings swinging back and forth at the mercy of gravity. And his eyes were still empty, lacking any depth behind his pupils.

From afar it was easy to see his delicate wobbling legs on top of the large demon lady.

From afar it was easy to see the steam coming out of his burning skin.

From afar it was easy to assume he was alive.

But Marco knew better.

Because from where he stood, there was no heartbeat.

And thus, Marco cackled hard underneath his heavy breath.

"Behold, my children," Voiceful Ruby shouted. "It is a miracle. The miracle of god! It is the work of our lord and master, for it is by his grace and will and darkness that we see the revelation, the truth. So come one, come all my children, and accept his glory unto thy lives."

"How does it feel, Wrathmelior?" Marco laughed painfully with his gruff voice, "To have your son's corpse here above you as you slowly wither away? _He's dancing on your grave, Wrathmelior!_ HA HA!"

"Marco?"

A voice sounded from behind, making Marco turn his head.

It was Kelly. She had begun armoring up, donning a thick plate of steel that no blade could enter. She had tied her hair back, now wearing a pair of goggles secured tightly on her head instead of the usual spectacles.

Behind her were two familiar faces.

"I brought them here… just like you asked," said Kelly.

"_HOO BOY_," Mina yelled from behind, stretching her arms and legs, "it feels SO good to have all these awesome magical powers again. I feel like I'm a hundred years old again."

"Speak for yourself," Rasticore stepped forth with his lumbering beefy arms. "These physical mortal limitations irk me. I won't be at full capacity in a while. What a pain."

"I don't know what on earth Marco is thinking bringing in the two of you," said Kelly. "You especially, Mina. I don't trust you, especially after what you've done."

"Someone's nerve is touched, eh?" Mina smirked. "Upset that I had to step in and do your job for you? Do the one thing you and the rest of your pathetic Commission couldn't do? No matter. I'll rip those nerves out of your spine so you won't have to feel anything anymore."

"_Hush now, children_," Voiceful Ruby descended between the lot of them. He was now in his new purple garment with golden and grey trims, a sign of his rebirth. His eyes glowed green and his voice echoed far and wide.

"We must follow the teachings of our god," said Ruby. "In order to spread the gospel of evil. That is his will."

"_That is his will,"_ they all said in unison.

In a brief moment of loud coughing that caught everybody's attention, Ruby brazenly stepped forth towards the body of Lady Lucitor, where Marco stood above with Tom still dancing lifelessly on top. There he struck his lute excitedly to catch his attention, and knelt down in front of the mighty body before him.

"Hosanna, oh lord," he cried in joy. "I see that you have found yourself accustomed to this new mortal body. Oh, look at the strength of the Flesh. Marvelous I say. I am amazed of the limits reached by a mere mortal teenage boy. The meat rots away in the presence of the lord's unholy divinity, but the boy's noble spirit and his painful resistance nurtures the evil, as such counterbalancing the negative effects. Just goes to show that if our lord wills it, it will be – Hallelujah."

"Oh, great and merciful lord of evil," Mina stepped forth also equally brazen, bowing her head, "I shall be of incredible use to you when I strike this world with righteous Vengeance. Please maketh me your right hand of fury."

"Don't listen to her," cried Ruby. "It is by my word, word of Heinous, word of coercion that we have gotten humanity to our side. A powerful weapon milord, forged from my hatred of you in the past, reshaped into new revelation, thus a more useful form birthed from your wisdom and new perspectives, hallelujah."

"ENOUGH!"

It was a strong voice. A voice beyond strength and will. A voice that could echo across the multiverse. Every creature within the vicinity quaked as the shockwave of his word vibrated through the thin air, delivering the smog from his breath. Marco was strong, too strong. And yet the wrinkles on his forehead still formed, and the coughing from his throat kept on getting heavier by the minute. His body was falling apart, his skin was rotting beyond any logic, and yet they all knelt before their great almighty lord.

"Go fetch me that flying horse head," Marco said, rubbing his eyes. "The one Festivia is in. Go get me the God of Indulgence."

"Right away…" said Kelly, still somewhat reluctantly, "Marco…"

"You best _GIVE IN_ soon, Kelly," said Marco. "Your sentience is of limited use to me. I need Flesh. Tom here is a hunk of Surviving Flesh. He dances at my command. Is he more useful than you?"

"No…" Kelly muttered, "no…"

"Then prove it."

"Y… yes… my lord."

"Good," Marco coughed violently once more, spewing onto a napkin some strange black liquid that began oozing uncontrollably from his mouth. Not good, he thought. Still not done, still need – to fully give in.

"Crikey baloney!" Mina cried, "There are still monsters and these weird Mewman looking aliens all over the place. What are they still doing here in our glorious homeland Mewni? Shall I get rid of them for you, o' lord?"

"Find…" Marco coughed, "find your sword… the blade that carves monsters… then you shall cleanse this earth."

"Aye aye, captain," Mina saluted. "Those monsters won't know what hit 'em. This looks like a job for – MINA LOVEBERRY!"

The girl leapt away into the deep thick jungle over the highway without a second thought. It was baffling how quick she disappeared into the bushes.

"What mission do you have for me, your grace?" Ruby asked nervously.

"Take the corpse," Marco pointed towards Tom, "and show the people the miracles… my miracles…"

"Yes, very good. Right away milord."

"Remember, Ruby," said Marco. "You know what happens if you backstab me with any of your Heinous intentions?"

Ruby nodded:

"An eternity of pain, I'm aware."

"Get to it."

And so Voiceful Ruby took his lute, adjusted his collar, slicked his hair back, and lured the dancing demon corpse along with the sound of his cheerful music. The hunk of Flesh followed instinctively, wobbling along with its feeble legs and silent heart.

"You trust that loud buffoon with the hunk of Flesh?" Rasticore asked.

"She has valuable skills that are of use to me," said Marco.

"What if he turns your back on you?"

"Impossible," said Marco. "I have Betrayal under my thumb. It's all coming together. My throat is clearer now. I don't cough as often. That is good… still… thirsty… could use a soda."

"If you say so."

* * *

Amidst the empty barren wasteland of a cold cruel world hidden deep within a layer of dark moist jungle and crumbling snow mountains, a shockwave cracked open in a space above the air, and there a hole of strange unthinkable lights burst wide open. Three shadows came crashing through the light, violently landing onto the rock-solid surface.

Janna had not expected her day to get any weirder than it already had. Two worlds, one magical, one not, coming together into a strange cosmic unification, a bizarre hybrid. And yet the weirdness never stopped. Normally she would've been thrilled to experience this chaos. But something was different. This – was way too big for her. For any of them.

"Where…" Moon stood up, dusting herself off, "where are we? What is this place?"

"This…" the brunette stood up, helping Janna up along the way, "is the Neverzone. Apparently, this used to be one of our old homes or something."

"Our?" Moon raised her eyebrow.

But before she could question things further, a second shockwave cracked open in a space not far from here, and there another hole of blinding light opened up. Behind it four more shadows approached. Of the four it was easy for Moon to recognize at least three of them.

"Ludo?" Moon squinted her eyes, "Buff Frog… and… is that… one of the Avarius boys?"

"_Queen Moon!"_ Buff Frog cried in the distance, and with no hesitation leapt forth to give her a big hug. "Ah it is good to see you. I worry for you and your family ever since we were on that cliff. Is Star Butterfly alright? Where did she go? What happened? I did not get chance to speak with her."

"Good to see you, too, Buff Frog," said Moon, "but it's… a long story. And frankly I'm not entirely sure what is going on either. What are you doing here, by the way? And why is Ludo and his brother here with you?"

"Queen Moon," Ludo laughed nervously, "it's been quite a while, hasn't it? Last time I saw you, the Butterfly castle was in ruins, ha-ha."

"Yes, I'd rather not relive that memory, thank you," said Moon. "What are you all doing here? And who is that… girl…"

Moon had only now begun to notice the unmistakable cheek marks on the girl following them behind. Her mind raced through all the questions and confusion. She could've sworn the magic had been destroyed, thus cheek marks along with it. And yet here this girl stood, bright as day. With her purple monster tail and the mark of the clubs on her cheeks.

"Meteora?"

"Yes, Mrs. Butterfly," the girl smiled. "It's me… hi…"

"Wait, if you're that monster girl," said Janna, "then you must be…"

"Yup," the brunette smiled, "hi everyone. I'm Mariposa."

Taking one closer look at the young girls' features and it all eventually became absolutely unmistakable. The brunette's skin complexion, her brown eyes, the mole – just like her brother. And the monster girl's tail, her purple skin, curly hair, and those magenta eyes. She truly did take after her father.

"What on earth is going on?" Everybody said in unison, either out loud or under their breath.

"Well… I suppose it's best to get to the point," said Meteora. "There's no easy way to say any of this."

"We came from the future," said Mariposa.

That instance, a million sparks of thought exploded everybody's tiny mortal mind in a degree that not even they themselves could describe or even understand. Moon had read of countless time manipulation abilities and scenarios within the magic book of spells. Skywynne the Queen of Hours, one of the most powerful queens in Mewman history. But to see travelers going in and out of the logical timestream, to see something so bold and risky. Either these girls were being very stupid, or the situation had gotten so dire that they had resorted to this last-ditch effort.

Moon began praying for the former.

"Not this future," Mariposa explained, "another future, a future of an alternate universe. A future where the two worlds, Earth and Mewni, never got cleaved together."

"What is it like in the future?" Janna stared at them with wonders in her eyes, "Are there flying cars? Flying dragons? Or… flying car dragons? Dracar? Cardragon?"

"Well, if we don't do something soon about the current crisis there may not be a future at all," said Meteora, "everywhere, in every universe, in every multiverse."

"I don't understand," said Moon.

"He is called the God of Evil," Mariposa explained. "For whatever reason, he had taken over the body of… my brother…"

"It all started with one death," Meteora stepped in, seeing as Mari was tearing up, "one death of a demon. Tom Lucitor, Prince of the Underworld. It's a strange death."

"And an impossible one at that," said Mariposa. "Normally incomprehensible under regular laws of nature and physics."

"Well that was what we were going to find out with Wyscan the Granter," said Moon, "before you interrupted us."

"Apologies, Mrs. Butterfly," said Meteora, "we just don't trust Wyscan. He exists outside of the conventional universe. He answers only to Desire, a force above our reality. He can't be trusted."

"Plus, I suppose… it is partially my fault," said Mariposa, "for luring the God of Betrayal along with us. In her presence, alliances and trusts do not exist. Anyone can turn their backs on a whim if she wills it."

"It can't be helped," Meteora assured. "We knew the risks going in."

"And what exactly are these risks?" Asked Moon. "Who exactly are we dealing with? How did Tom Lucitor die? Who killed him?"

"Well… the short answer, Mrs. Butterfly," said Meteora, "is the God of Evil."

"But it's more complicated than that," said Mariposa, "did you happen to find a pair dimensional scissors somewhere around?"

"Um… yes," said Moon, "in a box under a typewriter. It appeared out of nowhere. There was a note, it said that it was the last pair of dimensional scissors in the multiverse."

"This multiverse," Mariposa corrected, "there are others."

"What you need to understand about the dimensional scissors is the source of its powers," Meteora explained, "where it draws energy from, and how it functions in a universe where magic has been destroyed. The last dimensional scissors are more symbolic than anything else. Maybe symbolic is the wrong word… hmm… representative. Yeah… no… it's hard to explain, because the scissors don't just make magic portals. They _ARE_ magic portals, literally. An all-purpose nigh omnipresent device capable of travel through any door, any archway and any street that had ever existed – the literal essence of travel itself. With it, you can travel to literally anywhere in existence, or even nonexistence."

"What exactly does the scissors have to do with Tom and how he died?" Moon asked.

"Everything actually," said Mariposa. "You need to understand the scope of things. Understand how powerful these… deities are."

"The queens of Mewni are incredibly powerful three-dimensional goddesses capable of breaking a planet in half if they feel so inclined," Meteora explained. "Now imagine a four-dimensional god, or a fifth-dimensional abstract existing a whole layer above all the creatures in the lower reality, because what is a painting to a painter? What is a mortal to a god? That's the kinds of beings we are dealing with here. Beings so big time and space deform around their mass, so powerful they can see into different timelines and possibilities. That's the Magic High Commission."

"The scissors draw energy from a pool outside of creation, above time and space, where the Commission and their true omnipotent forms reside," said Mariposa.

"And the God of Evil…" said Meteora in a somber tone, "he towers above even them."

"Whoa."

"We theorize," said Meteora, "that the God of Evil from one universe uses his vast perspective of the multiverse to look into alternate realities in order to find and kill the Tom Lucitor in the neighboring universe, thus triggering a domino effect, birthing a new God of Evil from that universe. Rinse and repeat, ad infinitum."

"How exactly he kills Tom is still a little unclear," said Mariposa. "It's what we're still trying to figure out."

"How on earth do you know all this?" Cried Moon, with a million thoughts still exploding through her mind. "How do you even travel between the realms if you don't have a pair of scissors?"

In that moment, the two girls, clad in strange spandex, almost as some kind of futuristic space suits, both pulled out from their pockets what looked like fountain pens. They were sharp and coated in a golden shine with peculiar details and patterns engraved between the metal. The black handles were also equally shiny with even stranger more mechanical patterns lighting up what seemed like plasma innards of these pens. The pens were larger than usual, large enough to force the girls into grabbing them with their whole palm. These were definitely not meant for writing.

"We come from a time," Meteora explained, "where the worlds have evolved, replacing magic with technology. It's a new world. The age of magic and queens had passed where we come from. Now replaced with a new pantheon of science and metaphysics."

"All of this technology is possible," said Mariposa, "because one of our world's greatest heroes never gave up after the two worlds got separated. Not even when death took our loved ones or even when the God of Evil enslaved all our friends. She never gave up."

"She?"

Another portal opened up, exploding with furious shockwaves, blinding their eyes with strange colors. The dust flew in Moon's eyes, obscuring the shadowy figure who stepped out of the portal with righteous confidence. She rubbed her eyes, trying to see who it was.

Moon rubbed them again, still unable to believe what was in front of her. Convinced it was her faulty eyes that were playing tricks on her.

Truth was – her eyes were perfectly fine.

"Hi…" the girl in the portal waved her hand. "Mom."


	7. A New Pantheon

"Star…"

"Please… mommy," the girl whispered. "Just… let me listen to your heartbeat."

"Sweetie…"

"I just… I just want to know everything will be okay… just for this moment."

Moon began to choke up, suspecting the implications:

"You're… you're not my Star… aren't you?"

Star shook her head, as she held her even tighter. Moon felt a slight hiccup, as if the tears were starting to well up inside. Star's or hers, it was hard to tell.

"I… I'm so sorry," said Moon, embracing her back. Knowing this was what she needed, as she was suspecting even more disturbing implications.

"I miss you so much, mommy."

"I know, sweetie, I know," Moon felt the young girl's heartbeat, it was warm, recognizable and yet somehow, she knew – it was different.

"I'm not going to cry," Buff Frog said as he stood by, with teary eyes. "I'm not going to."

"Oh, Star, just look at you now," said Moon, caressing her daughter's cheek. "All grown up. My goodness. Last I saw you, you were just this tall. How old are you now?"

"Well, it's… kind of complicated," said Star, "since we don't really keep time like that anymore. Physically I'm in my twenties. But it's been a _LONG_ time since we defeated Mina and destroyed the magic on my timeline, which was the point where our two universes diverted off."

"I don't understand," said Moon.

"It's like I said earlier," Meteora joined in. "It is a new world, we call it the Pantheon of the Metaphysics. There are newer powers that roam Mewni and Earth now. New gods and abstracts, replacing older gods like the Commission. Your daughter here is one of the most powerful of us all."

"What?"

"Your daughter, Star Butterfly is the God of Republic," said Meteora.

Star Butterfly, the last trace of the old age of Mewman Queens and magic, and it showed. She stood tall in a confident posture with her golden locks of hair tied and slicked back into a clean ponytail. She stood clad in a brilliant armor representative of the new world's science. The metal was light, nimble, and yet stronger than any solid on Mewni or Earth, painted bright sea blue with pink accents.

Behind her sharp pair of wing-like pauldrons draped along the wind a long silky blue cape, reminiscent of the cape Marco once wore when he was a knight, though the shade of blue here was slightly lighter. On her forearms she wore a pair of golden gloves glowing with strange powerful matrixes of the computers and machinery, peculiar patterns of powerful plasma were lighting from within. From afar, one could easily assume Star was holding the power of an entire solar system within her palms. And her silver skirt and silver spandex beneath this light layer of metal shined hints of the old world. Moon recognized the silver color. Because it was clear this was the battle skirt she once wore as a warrior queen, albeit completely redesigned to fit Star's own frame better.

"Oh, darling," Moon caressed Star's cheeks lovingly, "your hair… your armor…"

"I hope you don't mind," said Star nervously. "I made some modifications, to be better suited for space travel… if… if that's okay with you."

"Oh, sweetie," Moon did not hesitate to embrace her, squeezing her tight with motherly love. "Of course it's okay. You look beautiful. I am so proud of you, Star."

"Mommy…"

"I'm sorry, I hate to interrupt this… um… tender loving family… um… reuniting moment," Dennis reluctantly stepped in, "but a lot of this is still very much confusing to us."

"Yes," Buff Frog agreed, "What exactly is this Republic God?"

"As the age of the queens ended," Meteora explained, "a new age of constitution and representative democracy rose on New Mewni. It was supposed to be a new age of new freedom, new choices."

"It's just… difficult to accomplish," said Mariposa, "when there's an all-powerful God of Evil running around enslaving all your friends and families."

"I'm so sorry, mom," said Star. "I really didn't want to do it. I wanted the people to choose. But… I just… I just had to step up. I had to protect them."

"What about Eclipsa?" Moon asked, "What happened to her? Why couldn't she and her husband take over?"

Meteora answered reluctantly:

"My father… he couldn't make it. He was… taken away by Evil when I was young."

"Oh…" Moon withdrew, feeling bad for asking, "I'm so sorry."

"And my mother," Meteora continued, "similar to Star, she also ascended to godhood. In our time, she is known as the God of Peaceful Death. A direct antithesis to Marco's… um, I mean, Evil's God of Surviving Flesh. Because of her new job she couldn't really be around all that often."

"Not to mention," Mariposa joined in, "Star is one of the few people powerful enough to resist the God of Evil's influence."

"What? How?" Moon and Janna asked simultaneously.

"I… am not entirely sure myself," said Star.

"Our God of Science on New Mewni has some theories on the matter, of course," said Meteora, "but nothing is concrete as of right now."

"Who is the God of Science?" Janna asked.

"Um… can we tell her," Mariposa looked to Star and Meteora.

"There's a crisis going on," Meteora said. "She's on a different alternate universe anyway, it's not going to alter their timeline. Not to mention it's our job to Deliver Truth."

"I'm sorry, but what's going on?" Janna asked.

"The God of Science," Mariposa smiled excitedly, "is one Ms. Ordonia."

"Excuse me? WHAT?"

"Janna Ordonia," said Meteora, "the God of Science on New Mewni. Half of our technologies are only possible because of you."

The young girl stood there, frozen with her jaw glued to the floor. Her eyes emptied with shock and her mind raced to unthinkable places, places she did not think she would even dare go in her entire life.

Oh, the irony – Janna Ordonia, the author of weirdness, chaos and dark magic, yet on a world not far from here crowned as a leader of the very concept and form of logic and science.

"If the God of Evil was going to build an entire army of gods on New Earth," said Star, as she stood up, "then by corn, New Mewni needed to have its army, too."

"Allow us to introduce ourselves," both Meteora and Mariposa cleared their throats.

"Hi, my name is Meteora Butterfly."

"Hello, I'm Mariposa Diaz."

They both then said in unison:

"We are the God of Delivering Truth. The direct antithesis to Evil's Propaganda."

And that moment, that infinitesimal moment in this warped reality of the Neverzone where temporal fields were bending everything outside of itself to a slow halt, in that moment all the people, creatures, animals, even plants in this cold dimension began to sense the presence of gods. It was difficult to do so before, because of their new world technology suppressing their limits, but they were here, no denying that, and they were huge. Too big to be contained in any celestial body, so big in fact they could easily dwarf galaxies if they so wish, and it was only by their own will and abilities that they could contain their own massive size within a form mortals could easily comprehend.

Moon could see the true size in their eyes and feel the true power from the aura emanating from their heavenly bodies. The age of magic was over, and yet here they stood, more powerful than ever before.

Magic was never so simple, even back in those simpler times. The world was never so simple. Because there were cosmic forces in the universe that were not magical in nature.

The magic wand was the most powerful weapon in the universe. But how could one possibly surpass a miracle device that could grant wishes?

That was the secret of the gods.

"Somebody please pinch me now and wake me up from this dream," Janna said. "I'm pretty sure my brain is mush now from all the explosion… in my head."

"Dream? Ha!" Ludo cried, "This is more a nightmare. I didn't follow any of this nonsense."

"For once," said Buff Frog, "I agree with you."

"Where on earth do you even draw your powers from?" Moon asked, also desperately trying to keep her brain from melting.

"In our world, the God of Evil has amassed a massive army of gods," Star explained, "by having reincarnations of the older gods possess bodies of lesser mortals. Some of these old gods include previous souls of the queens of Mewni."

"But they aren't really full reincarnations of the original versions of the queens and old gods," Meteora followed up. "Rather they seem like aspects of the God of Evil's will and thoughts given form."

"There are exceptions to this rule," Mariposa said. "Star and Eclipsa for example are not possessed by any of the previous queens. Not that they really need it, given how ridiculously powerful they are."

"What about you two?" Dennis pointed at Meteora and Mariposa. "Who are you two possessed by?"

"It's complicated," said Mariposa, "but in a nutshell, on New Mewni, we do not do bodily possession."

"The very idea of messing with free will and taking over someone else's body is a big no in my book," Star firmly said.

"So instead what we do on New Mewni is something a little different," Mariposa continued. "I wouldn't personally describe it as possession. More like… fusion of the soul."

"Or rather in this case the souls," Meteora said. "Mariposa's and my own god essence are somehow bound together, as if they were deemed necessary by some higher power. So in a way, the God of Delivering Truth is the both of us combined, two souls – acting as one."

"And the one we draw power from is queen Celena the Shy," Mariposa said.

"Celena?" Moon raised her eyebrow. "The Celena? The thirty-third queen of Mewni? Daughter of Rhina the Riddled?"

"Yes," Meteora nodded, "she doesn't exactly talk much in our heads. We don't hear much from her. But her essence gives us just enough to power our godhood."

"Just unfortunately not enough to defeat the God of Evil on their own," said Star. "The God of Evil's army is growing fast. And we're barely keeping up. I fear he bears an even more sinister goal behind all this recruiting, all this chaos."

"That…" Meteora then pointed her finger at everybody, "is the reason why we have brought you here."

That easily got all of their attention, as this whole mess of chaotic truth was difficult to navigate. Meteora explained:

"We've brought you here not only to save you from the God of Evil's enslavement. But also, because each and every one of you are suitable candidates to receive soul fusion and ascend into godhood."

"WHAT?"

"The multiverse is in danger," said Star. "And we need your help. One republic cannot do this alone. His poison spreads farther than anybody could've imagined."

"You… you… want us… to become gods?" Dennis stammered.

"I can't tell if this is getting better or worse by the minute," said Ludo, pinching his own cheek.

"But how?" Janna asked. "I'm… I'm just an ordinary human Earth girl. I'm not special, or even cool like you, Star."

"HA!" Star couldn't help herself but burst out loud. "You're going to do great, I can already tell."

"The new age of change is coming," Meteora said. "Magic and queens are gone. But I'm afraid the change in this universe, _your universe_ is coming faster than it did in ours. The cleaving of Mewni and Earth has only given Evil more materials to work with, more livestock for him to enslave. The Magical High Commission and their true omnipotent forms outside the universe are big targets for Evil, and whatever we do we have to get to them before he does. Especially Omnitraxus Prime, the old God of Space-Time. He is an agent of Dream, as such he holds partial power over reality itself. If Evil ever gets to him, it's almost certain Evil will be allowed to rewrite the very fabric of reality itself to his will."

"Please," Star offered her hand. "Join us – and help us save the multiverse."

* * *

"Give in… Kelly…" he whispered.

"I just don't get it," said Kelly, "ever since Tom passed away, Marco's been… different. It's hard to put my finger on it."

"How so?" Jackie asked.

"_Give in…"_

"Oh, forget him girl," said Pony Head, "come on, join me on this party that never ends! It is so lit right now you won't believe."

"Like, he keeps me around, ME," cried Kelly, "unafraid that I might Betray him at any time. He even asked me to do it. Betray him."

Jackie couldn't help herself but laugh:

"That's because he has me around, Loyalty. He's not afraid."

"_Just give in…"_

"I hear voices in my head, you know," said Kelly, "three voices in fact. And my brain hardens up to some kind of hard crystal."

"Yo, DJ, turn up the music, dawg!" Pony Head yelled. "We're going to raise the roof! WOO!"

"I guess… I guess I just want Marco to be happy," said Kelly.

Jackie smiled:

"Dude, that's easy. Just do what I did – give in."

Hosanna.


	8. God of Deliverance

New world's technology challenged the very limits of thoughts and imagination itself. Imagine for one moment a civilization so advanced that it could harness energy from every aspect, every corner of the planet it resided on. Every natural resource, every plot of land, every city, every kingdom, all being utilized to the maximum potential without any negative repercussions. Put that civilization on the Kardashev scale and you would get a type one civilization, thus a planetary civilization.

Going a little further than that and you would get a type two civilization, one with enough power and capabilities to harness the totality of energy from an entire star, a stellar civilization.

Going even further than that and we would get a type three civilization, one that commanded control and obedience from an entire galaxy, a galactic civilization.

It was easy, though, to be distracted by the fact that these were old Earthly terms, hypothetical scales and measurements of the old world. And the distance between New Mewni and the old world was vast. Mewman cultures did not use the same scale. And thus, at a glance it was difficult to classify their society truthfully. One could be tempted to put them at a type three civilization after witnessing their ability to travel between realms and vast distance of space but what people would often and easily forget was that these were beings whose mass and size could bend time and space by their sheer presence alone.

It was easy to forget that new world's technology could surpass a device that could literally do anything in the old world – the magic wand.

For all we knew, the new world could very well be type six civilizations.

Magic was gone, and yet these gods of the new world could still by some miracle of science recreate royal cheek marks that symbolized their god essence. Meteora's pair of clubs were clear as day. Star Butterfly's empty smooth cheeks on the other hand were curious at first, causing questions about the reliability of their abilities. Only for it to turn out that her lack of cheek marks only further reinforced the status of their power, as it was by choice, not by inability that Star had decided to leave her cheeks empty. Only further solidifying that these gods could do nearly anything they could wish for, if they so wish it.

"So these fountain pens," said Buff Frog as he curiously inspected the machine, "they are what you would call god weapons?"

"God devices," Meteora took back the pen, as her hand touched it, the machinery lit up with powerful plasma. "We don't really use them to fight."

"Imagine e-books," said Mariposa, "but able to easily store and download the entire Library of Congress, or better yet the entire history of Mewman written texts with one drop of ink, and still have plenty of room to spare."

"Approximately one yottabyte to be exact," said Meteora. "We use the pens to map out the multiverse, store information and travel through these makeshift portals."

"Makeshift?" Janna raised her eyebrow, "Why? What's wrong with these portals?"

"Nothing," said Mariposa. "Just that compared to the magic wand itself, which is a literal wishing machine, this really can't compare. Ms. Ordonia and Star took inspiration from the pen inside her old wand, the one she used to write in her journal with."

"At the end of the day," said Meteora, "you did your best, Ms. Ordonia, and it was one heck of a job, don't get me wrong. But these pens are still imperfect forms."

"I'm never going to get used to hearing my name like that," said Janna. "You all are creeping me out."

"Either way," Meteora began opening up the insides of the pen, inspecting its wondrous innards made of cogs, metal and screws not of this world, or really any three-dimensional worlds, "this device isn't really going to help us in a fight."

"Why?" Moon asked.

"Imagine you want to squash a bug or something," said Mariposa. "And the only thing around you can use is a sheet of paper. It's going to be decent to use against a bug in this case, but not so much if you want to fight other humans. I mean, I'm not saying papers aren't powerful. Papers are the blank canvas used to pass down laws, record knowledge, impart wisdom and invent worlds through imagination."

"It's a god device, sure," said Meteora, "we can use it to destroy any being in the lower reality. But against the God of Evil and his god followers? It's just going to run out of juice before we can even do anything to get his attention. Speaking of which… hmm… nearly out of juice. We best get back to New Mewni soon and recharge, before something bad happens."

"What are you worried about?" Mariposa nudged her friend, "They won't dare make a move on us with Star here with us. She can take them on, no problem. Besides, we still have plenty of time here in the Neverzone."

"Do we?" Meteora raised an eyebrow, "one second outside the Neverzone equals 1051200 seconds in here, which is approximately 12 days. That sounds like a lot of time, right?"

Mariposa nodded.

"WRONG!" Cried Meteora, "Think about who we're dealing here. Think about how fast the God of Evil can react. How fast he can think. This is a being so fast he can react to events before light itself even has a chance to start moving."

"Oh… right…"

"We need to get these guys back to New Mewni now," said Meteora, "so we can attempt soul fusion. Otherwise…"

"There's no time!" Cried Star, standing from afar, looking beyond up into the sky, in an endless space beyond. Seeing something nobody else could see.

"Pardon?"

"The Neverzone is an ideal environment for soul fusion," said Star. "It leaves behind very little traces. Not to mention, we risk violating the treaty if done on New Mewni."

"Treaty?" Moon asked, "What treaty?"

"No time to explain," said Star. "What we need to do now is find Hekapoo."

"Hekapoo?" Moon asked. "Why her specifically?"

"Getting to Omnitraxus directly is not possible," Star explained. "And Rhombulus isn't much use for our cause. So the next best thing is to find the old God of Portals. She will no doubt try to adapt, change along with this new era, change along the destruction of the magic. Thus, bearing a new name. We just need to figure out what that name is."

"How do you know she hasn't gotten… ahem," Meteora cleared her throat, "coerced by Evil? What if they all have?"

"Hekapoo is a tough cookie," Star smiled. "She's a master escape artist. An expert at running away. If anybody knows how to avoid his Evil gazes, it's her."

"So, okay, how does this ritual work?" Moon asked. "And which one of us will be fused with Hekapoo?"

"I'm… not entirely sure myself," said Star.

"What?" Cried Janna.

"Hopefully – she will fuse with one of you," said Star, as she continued to look on.

* * *

"I'm sorry, Chloe," said Jackie. "I'm Loyal to Marco now. There's nothing you can say that will change my mind."

"Hallelujah," cried Voiceful Ruby. "Gaze upon the wound of this flesh. It is not survivable, lethal, and impossible. And yet by a single touch of his unholy power, he had brought the body back to life, back to our waking world. It is a miracle, a miracle I say!"

"Hmm…" Marco croaked as his throat got sorer by the second. "Lo… L… Loyal…"

"I just… don't think we have much in common anymore," said Jackie.

"L… Loyalty…" he muttered.

"It is by his unholy order that we must cleanse this earth of monsters and Mewmans," Ruby's voice boomed, "in order to push ourselves into a new age, a New Earth. And hark! Behold! What's this? A red crown, painted of the blood of good people? Truly a magnificent fit for our evil king!"

"M… m… my hat… blood moon… hat…"

"We were a one-time fling at best anyway," said Jackie, "you should just move on."

"Lo… Loyalty…"

"Yes? My king?" Jackie turned her head.

"Ki… kiss my…m…"

"Oh, yes, my lord," said Jackie as she reached out to his hand, caressing it in her own like caressing a child before finally kissing the surface of the crumbling stony skin, with strange claws growing out of his cracked dry fingers.

"Today, we christen our lord!" Ruby shouted. "For he shall be baptized in the flames of the demon and in the blood of the Mewman invaders. Today he extends the length of his steel for us, his children, to grab unto, letting it dig deep into our crumbling mortal flesh, flesh of the old world, and let him take us beyond the Star and into the new world. Today, we crown him the savior, the miracle worker, the king, the lord, the master, the virus, the poison, the black hole, the revelation, the truth of the new world. Today, WE ALL BECOME ANEW IN HIS GLORY! HALLELUJAH!"

"It's time," Rasticore said. Lowering the crimson crown unto Marco's head, letting it rest gently as the boy sat there on his throne of flesh and steaming metal scrap.

"As it is prophesied in a time beyond time, in a place beyond space," Ruby cleared his throat, "_It shall come, the silent rage of god. It shall come, the eternal holy war. It shall come, the blood sun and blood moon colliding. He shall come, THE GOD OF EVIL!"_

The god opened his eyes, and before him he saw the cosmos bowing down to him. Stars and moons and planets and asteroids gathered for this momentous event, the crowning of the God of Evil. His facial features cracked, giving way to new and darker energy beneath his dry dying skin. He had tried to resist the power for far too long now. Months, days, years, smashed together as the space got deformed by the massive size of gods. His throat was sore, and he spoke less and less, but with the massive following he had amassed – he did not need to speak.

He raised his hands into the air, and the ground shook.

There beyond in the sky two massive celestial bodies appeared from the vast sea of the cosmos.

One a burning ball of flame, bigger than the sun itself, scorching with blood fire. Its heat alone was enough to vaporize nearly half the rivers and lakes on Earth, even parts of the ocean. Evaporating the shores, draining the trees dry, causing drought and famine everywhere it touched.

The other a cold empty barren ball of stone, frozen with an icy surface, reflecting crimson shine from within its ruby core. Its dominating will and gravity were enough to pull the ocean itself out of its home. Tsunamis and waves crashing everywhere it went – the tears of frozen blood.

With one hand he grabbed onto the ball of fire, and the other the ball of ruby.

And with unholy righteous fury, he began to pull.

It looked impossible. The two objects were far away, and yet here he was controlling them from billions of miles away with an invisible force. Mortals would be tempted to call this boy the most powerful telekinetic in the world.

But those with god eyes, those who could see above three dimensions, those who could see beyond – they knew that in the deep space, the God of Evil's hands were bigger than stars. And it was only by his grip and strength that these massive bodies were pulled unto one another.

He pulled, pulled and pulled.

And he laughed.

A cackle that echoed beyond space and time. A cackle that traveled to the edge of the multiverse in seconds. A cackle so loud, one could barely hear the two celestial bodies crashing violently into one another, even when the two were near enough the atmosphere where sound could travel across.

Blood sun and blood moon colliding.

For some, this was the end of the world. But for the gods – this was the beginning.

* * *

"Did you hear that?" Mariposa asked.

"A laugh," Meteora replied, "yes."

"Whose laugh was that?" Dennis asked.

"You don't think…" said Mariposa.

And Meteora simply responded with a nod.

"It's him alright," said Star. "Marco."

"Marco?" Moon turned her head.

"The God of Evil," said Star. "There's a very high possibility that Marco, the Marco of your Earth, has just fully given into Evil. I can feel the vibration of a moon and a sun crashing into one another."

"Just like in the prophecy," Mariposa said to Star. To which Star did not respond, only made herself go deeper into her thoughts.

"Prophecy?" Moon asked. "What prophecy?"

"Sorry, Mrs. Butterfly," said Meteora, "but no time to explain. It's a long story."

"Meteora," Star commanded, "I need you to run back to New Mewni this instant and inform Janna of what's going on. Run, don't use the pens. You might be followed otherwise."

"But Star," said Meteora, "you're faster than I am. Shouldn't you do it to save time?"

"I have absolute faith in your speed," Star grinned. "Besides. I need to stay behind, to protect these guys. And to overlook the fusion process."

Meteora nodded:

"Understood."

"Now go."

"Wait a minute, she's just going to run?" Janna wondered. "She's not going to use a portal?"

"Mariposa and Meteora are couriers basically," said Star proudly. "The best of the best. They can run faster than anything."

Without hesitation, Meteora secured the pen back onto her waist, took her position and sped off away into the distance in less time than it took for anybody to even blink. No warning, no reluctance, only speed. None of the mortals even had time to compute the event that just unfolded before their eyes. She did not leave a single trace, it was as if she was never there.

"Whoa."

"Shouldn't I have gone with her?" Mariposa asked.

"It only takes one to deliver a message," said Star. "I actually have a different job for you. I need you to travel outside, to the edge, and tell me which one of the three Commission is missing. I need to know if he has gotten to any of them."

"Roger that, ma'am," Mariposa saluted. "Do you need me to run? Or can I just portal myself there?"

"Run," Star commanded. "It is known to me that Betrayal followed you through your portal when you retrieved these guys from Wyscan."

"Yeah," Mariposa began awkwardly toying with her hair. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, it's okay," Star smiled. "This is exactly why I want you to run. We can't take any more risk before finding out how he has compromised our portals. That's why Hekapoo is so important to us."

Mariposa nodded:

"Understood."

The moment the second hand on the cosmic clock moved forward in the next instant in the temporal field, Mariposa raised her hand to the side of her temple, saluted her God of Republic, and just like Meteora before her, danced off into the blackness of the stars above, into a place beyond speed. No trace, no hesitation.

"I am so confused," Ludo stared into the black space with bewilderment.

"Get used to it," said Star. "You haven't seen anything just yet. For all we know, Hekapoo could very well fuse with _your_ soul. It'll be really overwhelming then. You'll start hearing voices, and she might even try to temporarily take over to communicate with us."

"Now that you mention it," Buff Frog joined in, "I have been hearing… voices in my head as of late. Does that have anything to do with this?"

"Did you now?" Star's eyes lit up. "What did those voices sound like? Were there many? What did they say?"

"I… I'm not sure," Buff Frog stuttered. "It was a little vague actually. I couldn't understand what they were talking. It sounded strange."

"That's the god tongue alright," said Star. Contemplating something in her head, before yelling out loud, "brace yourselves, everyone! Hekapoo might be here soon. And her god body might cause collateral damage. One wrong move and it could destroy this whole dimension."

"What?" Everyone cried out in unison.

"Don't worry, don't worry," Star reassured them. "Stick with me and my god essence will protect you. Now…"

Heaven crackled, fire and lightning rained down out from the corners of their eyes, instantly alerting them to a threat they had not anticipated before. The loud sounds and the tremors rupturing through the air were sudden, racing their heartbeats to a rate they had never felt before. The fires were bolting down from the sky at an unimaginable speed, consuming everything it touched, and the ground quaked open, rupturing the plates beneath and opening up the screams of agony tortured by hellfire underneath, trying to crawl its way back to the world of the living.

"What's happening?" Moon shouted, trying to balance herself, "Is this… is this soul fusion?"

"I should've never left the castle," Ludo cried, as he jumped onto his little brother's arms. "Hold me, Dennis! I'm scared."

"Star Butterfly?" Buff Frog looked to Star for answers.

_When you cry out in your nightmares, it is I, your god, that you see._

"No…" Star's eyes widened, "not now!"

"What?" Moon cried, "What is going on?"

"The shockwave from the blood sun and blood moon," Star cried. "It's not supposed to reach here this fast. Not yet. Unless… oh no…"

"TALK TO US!" Janna cried from afar.

"Space and time are falling apart!" Star shouted back over the loud crackling, "How could I have miscalculated. EVERYONE! Stay close, otherwise…"

Another lightning struck, cutting her off before she could finish. A magnificent blade of plasma, of heavenly fire struck from the unholy heaven. Splitting off the spatial field holding the entire Neverzone dimension together. Star tried reaching out her hand, but the space was distorting, cracking like a fragile pane of glass. Drifting them all further and further in the blackness beyond time and space.

"No…" Star cried under her breath.

"STAR!" Moon and Janna bellowed.

"Hold on!" Star shouted back, "The republic must not fall! It can't."

"_Otherwise – Evil wins."_

A familiar voice echoed in the distortion of space. Star turned her head both to the right and to the left at the same time. There within the body of Buff Frog a strange energy surged within. Powering through and speeding off into every vein, every nerve, every cell of his body. Buff Frog shook, as his mortal skin was having a difficult time adjusting to the God World, the god language.

His hand trembled, and in the middle of it all a fire lit from the heart of the empty distorted space. A never-ending fire that did not need to be fed, a fire that would burn even in a vacuum – a god fire. A flame not of the old world, but a flame redefined, renamed in a new era, a new world.

"Hekapoo?" Star cried in the deep empty space, "Y… your… your name."

Using Buff Frog, she nodded her head:

"We have to go now, Star! Save those you can save. We're running out of time."


	9. God World

"Ow… my head…" the girl groaned as she rubbed her temple, "five more minutes…"

"_Wake up… sister… please wake up…"_

"Yes, I'll have more Captain Blanche's Sugar Seeds, thank you."

"_Wake up!"_

"Huh… wha… what? I'm awake, awake. _I'm awake!_ What's happening? I'm awake!_"_

The girl's eyes sprung wide open, only to be immersed in a strange sight. A bizarre environment greeted her, on top of being greeted by a bizarre child in equally exotic outfits. She was a little girl, no older than seven, maybe eight. She had kelp green colored hair, which upon closer inspection showed they were made of a curious ooze-like substance. Not like any ordinary hair anyone had ever seen before.

Her eyes glowed green of childlike innocence, and her dress told of a civilization beyond the stars and galaxies, with the strange green fabric being lit up by plasma and electrical circuits expertly woven into the silk, as if symbolizing some sort of futuristic web. It was difficult to even comprehend what kind of clothing it was, what it was made of.

"Oh, brilliant," the little girl cheered, "you're awake."

The girl glanced around the dark boiler room that all hemmed in around her. It was surprisingly clean and quiet for a room one would normally expect to be full of loud steam. The pipes were lined up against the walls, secured tightly and digging deep into each corner, all going off into different directions.

Some of the gauges and meters were still seen to be functional with their little hands fidgeting inside the apparatus, so clearly these large machines here were still operating as they spoke, and yet at the same time the room couldn't be quieter. Nothing but the sound of the two girls' breath silently echoing and bouncing off the metal pipes.

"I was beginning to worry there, sister," said the little girl.

"Huh… what? Wha… what's going on?"

"Well, allow me to introduce myself," the little girl extended her hand. "My name is Penny, Penny Spiderbite. What's your name?"

"Huh? What? Oh… um… my name is… Star…"

"Nice to meet you, dear sister."

"Um… yeah, likewise," Star shook her hand.

"I'm looking for my friend, Orion," said Penny. "Have you seen him around? Last I saw of him he came running down the hall this direction. I figured since you're here you might've seen him."

"Wh… where exactly… am I? What is this place?"

"Don't you know?" Penny tilted her head, "I thought for sure you would know. But um… you're not from around here… are you, dear sister? I certainly haven't seen your face around. Though, mom always said I'm bad at remembering faces."

"I… I… don't know…" she stuttered. "My head is still a little fuzzy. I feel like there was something I had to do, something important, something… I just for the life of me can't remember what it was."

"You don't know stuff, too, huh?" Said Penny. "That's okay, though. I don't know stuff, myself. Not all of them anyway. Mom always said I should know more stuff, but knowing more stuff is exhausting. It's a lot of responsibilities."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, I know," Penny's eyes lit up, "we can go ask the pens."

"The… what now?"

"The pens know everything. They'll tell you what you've forgotten, I'm sure. I go ask the pens whenever I don't know something. They always tell me everything. Come on."

* * *

"Hekapoo… where are we?" Star asked.

"This… is the veins between the universes," Hekapoo spoke through Buff Frog's body. Her voice merged with his with bizarre holy vibration. "We'll be safe from his prying eyes here, he has no jurisdiction over this place, or he'll risk violating the treaty."

"You invoked your old name," said Star. "Prometheus."

Hekapoo nodded:

"Full fusion and new change would've taken too long. You and Delivering Truth have already taken massive risks traveling through the flow of time. There was no way I was going to follow you."

"So you manifest in the body of an alternate past the hard way," said Star.

"I cheated," Hekapoo shrugged. "Using old gods' names in the new era is dangerous."

"Is everybody alright?" Star shouted across the plane of bent space, where sound could visibly be seen traveling across the atmosphere. Like a calm sea with quiet waves traversing the vastness of its surface.

"We're fine, dear," said Moon, as she and Janna dusted themselves off, letting glittering cosmic lights fly all over.

"Wait… where's Dennis and Ludo?" Star looked around, desperately scanning the environment for their presence.

But nothing. As far as her eyes could see there was only the vast darkness of the broken space.

"I… I don't see them anywhere…" Moon muttered.

"Shouldn't we go back and get them?" Janna asked.

"No," Hekapoo cried, "it's too dangerous! We're traveling at decillions times the speed of light in an unstable quantum state. Turning back in this current fragile state of the space breaking apart could instantly disintegrate you."

"We can't just leave them!" Moon shouted.

"It's fine, it's fine, it's fine," Star cried out desperately, "I'll just get Mariposa to fetch them again when she gets back."

"What?" Moon cried out, almost disgusted, "You're talking about these guys like they're mere lambs ready to be slaughtered and sacrifice."

"Don't – talk to me about sacrifice, mother…" Star snapped, clenching her fist, but managed to stop herself before she got even angrier. She took one deep breath, and shot a serious look at Moon and Janna. "By the republic, Ludo and Dennis will NOT be harmed under my watch. That is a god promise."

"I hope for all our sakes," Janna crossed her arms, "that you keep it."

* * *

"Look, look, dear sister," Penny said excitedly. "Here we are, the pen that knows it all."

"Whoa… what is this place?" Star marveled at the scene all around her, "I… I can't see any… why does everything just look like shapeless blobs made of colors?"

Penny giggled:

"You're funny, sister. This is one of the control rooms. See all the screens and computers over there? Mom said I'm not supposed to go in here. But Orion always dared me to go in, so I was always curious. I never realized there are just old boring machines and computers inside."

"Yeah I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Ah here we go," Penny handed Star a blurry object. She couldn't quite make out the details of the object, but up close it took a more definitive long oval shape, almost like a small stick of some kind. Shaking it revealed to her ears the vibration of some of the inner cogs and springs. So she deduced it must have been a mechanical device of some sort.

"Go ahead," Penny smiled.

"Um…" Star scratched her head, "what am I supposed to do with this?"

Penny giggled once more:

"You're really not from around here, are you? Here, come. I'll show you how the pen works."

The little girl yanked the shapeless blob from Star's hand. She started typing in some strange combinations within the innards of the device, combinations that Star could not decipher from where she was standing. It felt too abstract, as if she was just poking her fingers into the air.

"Cloudy, tell me where Orion is hiding, pretty please," Penny spoke into the pen. "I've been looking all over the place. I can't find him anywhere."

"Cloudy?" Star raised her eyebrow.

"Mom said it's what we call the A.I inside the pens. Pretty neat, huh?"

"_Good morning, Mistress Penny,"_ the shapeless blob answered back with an uncanny mechanical voice. "_Master Orion is currently in this room this very instant. Would you like me to fetch him for you?"_

"Oh, that little rascal," Penny cried out in delight.

A vague giggle echoed from afar, emanating from behind one of the grey blobs over to Star's left, which Star still couldn't for the life of her make out. And it was only getting worse from there, as Star felt her visions were getting even blurrier by the minute.

"You know I can hear you, right?" Penny smirked, "You come out here right now or I'm going to tell."

Out from the shadows swallowed by the colorful space came a child giggling with wondrous glee. Much like Penny, the boy wore some peculiar clothing with a disc-shaped collar lit up by some very specific line patterns, as if it was wired by inner plasma tubes of some sort. His silky golden shirt lit up almost as bright as a star, and his neat combed hair was glimmering with smooth chestnut colored strands with a singular bright golden streak laid out right in the middle of it all.

The boy was young, perhaps a little younger than Penny. But his pair of sky-blue eyes were familiar to Star. She just couldn't put her finger on what it was and how.

* * *

"Something's wrong," said Star. Her gaze tightened, glaring beyond into the deep space as they traveled.

"What?"

"Keep them safe, Hekapoo," Star commanded. "I'm going up ahead."

"Where are you going?" Moon shouted.

"Someone's just entered the republic without authorization, I need to find out who and how."

"How did you even know that?" Janna asked.

"Nothing goes on in my republic without my knowing."

And thus, she sped off into a place beyond thought at a pace not comprehensible by the mortal brain.

Meteora was right, Moon thought to herself, Star really was faster than Delivering Truth.

* * *

"So… I just… ask this so-called pen and it'll just tell me the answer?"

"Yup," Penny nodded. "The pen knows everything. It can do almost anything. So just ask what you want to know, and it'll answer."

"Alright," Star stared at the strange grey blob with reluctance, "I suppose… it can't hurt to try."

"Heh, you look familiar, lady," said Orion. "You sure you're not from around here?"

"Hush now," said Penny, "don't be rude. Let her concentrate."

"Okay… here goes nothing…"

Star took in one deep breath as the shapeless walls closed in on her. At least – that was what she felt. She couldn't actually tell for certain. She still had difficulty making out what the shapes were. But that did not matter for that one brief moment. Only one thing mattered then, one thing on her mind, burning with curiosity:

"Pen… um… tell me – what have I forgotten?"

* * *

"Meteora?"

"Star!"

"You did as I asked?"

"Yes. I told Janna everything, just as you commanded. I saw you coming from afar, so I ran here as fast as I could. What's going on?"

"No time. The republic's been infiltrated. Come on."

"Right."

* * *

"_Error… error… invalid command – file conflict. System reboot required."_

"Hmm… might need to refresh the pen," said Penny. "Let me have a look. Sometimes this happens."

"Wait, I change my mind," said Star, "maybe this isn't such a goo…"

Before she could even finish her sentence, her mind became immediately flooded and overwhelmed with amazing cosmic forces and imageries that came crashing through every senses of her body. Knowledge, power, truths, revelations, all came through her eyes, powering up her pain receptors, letting her into secret pains she did not know even existed, secret sorrows of godlike creatures of the universe. Pains of the heart, pains of the soul, the trillions of ways one could be tortured – everything. All the worst pain imaginable, now multiplied beyond eleven, beyond the eleven dimensions to a point it was no longer merely just the pain, but an experience.

Amidst the agony however was power, power she had never felt before in her life. Power she had only read about in old books and did not think was possible, at least for her.

Power of gods.

She began to smell things she had never smelt before, taste things that never existed. Her teeth ached of absolute zero, and her forehead burnt hotter than supernovas, and she even began to remember memories of the future. It was too much, too incomprehensible. Under normal circumstances she would've turned mad by this point. But by Destiny's decree she was to remember what she had forgotten, even if it meant experiencing a thousand years of pain and knowledge, knowledge she might not even remember, or will actively choose to forget, a thousand years squashed down in just a mere few seconds. And then, in a brief moment of cosmic flood of knowledge – she remembered.

_When you cry out in your nightmares, looking for answers, it is I, your god and master, that you see._

"Marco…" she whispered, in utter disbelief. "I… I know what I… I remember the…"

"Um… are you okay, dear sister?" Asked Penny. "You look kind of pale."

The shapeless blobs of her surrounding were starting to concentrate, taking more focus within Star's pupils. She still could not quite see everything. But she could better make out what it was that was surrounding her. All the cold metal, and the idle machinery. And in her palm the long oval blob began to take shape, she could now see the golden shine of the pointed tip at the end, attached firmly to its black handle, finally understanding why the kids called them pens.

In that moment, Star remembered, and she was determined. In one decisive motion, she held the pen towards her lips. Asking it the most important question on her mind:

"Cloudy – I need to know… because I refuse to believe it. Who is the God of Evil?"

At that moment, the two kids stood back in shock, hands covering their mouths. And the device in Star's hand began to shake.

* * *

"I'm going ahead," Star commanded. "Fetch Janna. The republic might be in danger!"

"Roger that, ma'am," cried Meteora.

"Please…" Star muttered to herself, "please, let me make it in time."

* * *

"_ERROR, ERROR… invalid command. Please rephrase the question. Be more specific."_

"Hey, I thought this thing was supposed to know everything," Star turned to Penny, only to find her still in shock, holding dearly to Orion.

Star was mildly confused, but she disregarded it and continued:

"Alright, let me try something else. Cloudy – tell me the name of the God of Evil."

The pen began vibrating even more violently this time, with the inner circuitry rupturing sparks of plasma, oozing out of the metal casing.

"_Error, error… too many names… free up memory space to complete download."_

"What? No," Star snapped. "I just need one name."

"_Insufficient,"_ said the pen. "_Evil has approximately 23 quadrillion names in this multiverse alone. Here are just a few of these…"_

With a violent burst of energy, the pen shot out a powerful beam of light onto the murky wall in the distance, revealing to Star a screen with a wide column of straight horizontal lines that seemed to scroll down at an absurd speed. Upon closer inspection, Star realized these weren't just lines – these were names, names written in the smallest of fonts to squeeze tightly into the space given by the beam of light radiating from the pen.

"What the heck are these names?" Star muttered to herself as she scanned the wall, "Satan… Old Scratch… Darkseid? Set? Dragon… Lich… Orochi? Beast… Xltot? Moar… Ygrzl? Are these just a bunch of gibberish and random words mashed together? You know what? I have an idea. You want specifics? How about this? Cloudy – last question…"

Once again however, before she could finish her sentence, the door of the room opened up behind her, revealing a path of blinding light, and consumed by that light a shadow of a powerful figure.

The figure stood up tall, riding on top a strange mechanical vehicle painted pink that was somewhat oval, almost like some sort of bulky hoverboard. From the bottom of the vehicle came two levers that were long enough to reach up to the torso. She stood firm, gripping the handles of the long levers with both hands, controlling the device with absolute authority.

The figure wore a peculiar skin-tight outfit with silky green fabric woven beneath a thin layer of golden leather. At least Star thought it was leather. Star wasn't even entirely sure what material the outfit was made of, and she had a gut feeling the materials might not even exist. There on her head the woman wore an unusual mechanical headgear that almost seemed mounted to her chin and the sides of her cheeks, going all the way up to a different rectangular piece secured above her forehead like some kind of tall vertical ceremonial folding cap. It was a peculiarly shaped helmet, seemingly intended to be two pieces capable of disassembling into separate parts.

The woman wore thick mechanical pauldrons, painted of green and gold, and underneath all that metal, a lab coat worn over the skin-tight suit, let flying in the wind as she rode by on her vehicle. But by far the most eye-catching feature of this entire gaudy attire was the circular emblem of red and yellow fixed tightly at the very center of her chest. Star was actually uncertain of whether it was an insignia or an actual piece of circular metal implanted deep into the rib cage of this woman.

"What in Mewni's name is going on here?" The woman cried, "Who let you kids in he…"

She paused the very moment she glanced at Star holding onto the pen.

The woman squinted her eyes, staring in disbelief:

"God-Mother?"

"STAR!"

A different voice boomed by the hallway behind the door, and a massive shockwave shook the very moment the voice reached the room. There bolting into the chamber from behind the woman standing on the strange vehicle – the God of Republic.

"Son, get behind me," she waved her hand towards the children, "Penny, go back to your mother."

"_Would someone please for the love of corn tell me what is going on here!"_ Star cried.

"Please, listen to me," said the God, extending her hand, "I know what you're trying to do. And trust me when I say you don't want to know the answer to that question you're about to ask."

"Who are you?" Star asked. "And how do you even know what I was going to ask?"

"Give me the pen, Star," the God commanded. "This will not end well if you proceed."

"No!" Star yelled back in defiance, "I need to know. I need to know! I remember what I have forgotten. And I need to know. I refuse to believe it. So I need this pen here to tell me I am right."

"Star, no!"

"Cloudy," Star puffed her chest, inhaling one massive final breath, "_tell me the identity of the God of Evil."_

"NO!"

In a moment, faster than a split second, perhaps even faster than an attosecond, the pen shone its powerful beam of light onto the wall. There it revealed something Star had been anxiously waiting for this whole time – a profile photo. The truth she had wanted so badly. It was clearer than even Rhombulus's crystals. The face was unmistakable.

The pen read out loud:

"_The God of Evil – is Toffee of Septarsis."_

"YES!" Star cried out triumphantly, "I knew it! I just knew it. I was right. I was right all along. I knew it was not possible for Marco to…"

"_The God of Evil…"_

The pen had not finished.

The beam of light grew stronger.

And now – it began loading a second profile picture.

"…_ is Seth of Septarsis…"_ said the pen.

"What?" Star stared at the screen in disbelief.

"_And finally…"_

Still not done. The light of the pen grew mightier than ever.

And thus – it loaded one final photo.

Uttering a horrifying answer, shattering Star's world into a million pieces.

"No…" she gasped with a final breath just right before she lost consciousness and passed out, "not… possible…"

"_The God of Evil – is Marco Ubaldo Diaz of New Earth."_

And there on the screen, three photos lined up next to one another. With the two monstrous lizards by the side, grinning, laughing, baring their sharp fangs dipped in crimson blood.

And in the middle of the two – a boy, with grey skin fractured like dead trees robbed of its life source.

A boy in a black silky suit, crowned with a bloodstained red hat. Hiding away a black pair of eyes beneath the shadows that lit up with an even more vicious red.

A boy smiling from ear to ear, laughing a cosmic laugh that could be heard all the way across the multiverse.

Hosanna.

God save us all.


	10. Bring Me a Dream

There once were gods.

But before there were gods, there was nothing.

And before there was nothing. There was Dream.

It was a time where Dream was everything, and everything was Dream.

Dream simply was.

And in a lot of ways, he still is.

But Dream had a sister. She was Fate.

Dream and Fate once existed elsewhere. Under different points of views. But here they were something else entirely.

Fate made a Glossary. To keep order, to teach.

But this was a new world. Glossary ceased.

Glossary was Fate's servant no more, instead Fate's shadows – Freedom.

This was the Word. And the Word was absolute.

* * *

**Part 1: Mister Sandman**

"Psst…"

A faint voice floated by in the distance.

"Psst… hey…"

It grew closer.

"Hey… wake up… little girl…"

WAKE UP!

Star's eyes flung wide open.

The woman sat up from her bed, and under the bright moonlight hitting her through the window – there she saw him.

A man sitting by the end of her bed.

He wore a white tailcoat with a black shirt and a neat little bow tie secured meticulously underneath. On his shoulders was a long flowing blue cape with golden trims. He was looking at her through a pair of strange black goggles attached to a leather aviator helmet over his head.

He smiled, it looked like a young smile, but Star vaguely recognized this man, and she knew he was older than most universes. The infinite flow of energy inside his cape was clear. A fabric woven with infinite strands of rivers, infinite strands of thought flowing from every person and thing in existence capable of dreaming. The cape lit up in ways no science could explain. Lighting up ideas, songs, stories, thoughts, emotions, journeys.

"Do… do I know you?" Star squinted her eyes, still struggling to make out his features.

The man merely laughed:

"Even non-sentient subatomic particles should recognize who I am when I pay them a visit. What's the use of your godhood if you're not going to use those senses?"

Star looked closer, and a flood of knowledge instantly filled up in her mind. Finally unlocking a dormant memory of hidden powers.

"I'm still trying to get used to these new powers," said Star. "It… confuses me sometimes. Where have you been? Haven't seen you around much."

The man smiled:

"I was on a train. It's outside of creation. It was fascinating. I should tell you about it sometimes."

"Cut to the chase. What do you want?" Star stood up to put on her night robe. Tying the red string around her waist.

"You know exactly what I want."

"Then get out of my room," Star pointed to the window. "My answer is still no."

"You know I can't allow that."

"You don't allow a lot of things."

"True," Dream nodded. "Funny thing you should know. Our powers and limits are more defined by what we are not allowed to do rather than what we cannot physically do. Rules, traditions dictate us."

"Your traditions can eat my boots."

"It applies to me, my sister, and to you as well," Dream smiled. "It applies to Zeus, Highfather, Odin, Rao, Prismo, the Axolotl. So don't think you can just avoid responsibility like that."

"You're strong. Why don't you just do it yourself? For your information I abolished the Mewman monarchy for a reason. I'm not cut out for the job. It's caused me and Marco too much grief."

"And yet… you are cut out for… War?"

Star briefly glanced into the empty void of Dream, trying to read his eyes. But it was impossible with that thick goggles of his hiding away his endless, eternal visions of a being who could see all ideas existing and non-existing in the cosmos.

She shook her head and said:

"I fight. That is what I'm good at."

"And still you ask for peace?"

"I fight – so that Marco won't have to. So that I won't have to when we… hmm… it doesn't really matter. All you need to know is that this is a sweet gig for me. The Dream world he and I have made with each other. It's nice. I like it to stay that way. Come, I'll give you a little tour."

* * *

**Part 2: A New Life**

The new school year had just emerged from around the corner, and Marco intended for it to be a good one. The boy had meticulously planned out every step of the way with a complicated but surefire formula. A formula to his life here at Echo Creek Academy. The numbers could not lie, he told himself. And it was true. Numbers were as absolute as the Word.

The only problem was his equation was incomplete, because he never accounted for the possibility of an exchange student from a far distant land being dropped into his life out of nowhere.

Enter Star Butterfly.

A bright, radiant young girl with beautiful golden locks of hair letting itself loose in the Mercy of the wind. She came from a place far away from here. All the way from the United Kingdom, right on the other side of the globe. Her mother, Mrs. Moon Butterfly was a physician. Her father, Mr. River Butterfly, a car mechanic. The family decided to move here to the States when Star was just a little girl.

"It's so nice to meet you all," the girl waved her hands as she stood in front of the class. "I'm really excited to get to know everyone here."

"_Alright, go ahead and take a seat next to safe kid over there,"_ said the teacher.

"Don't mind if I do," Star smiled, and danced her way towards the young boy in awe of her mesmerizing radiance.

It was difficult to take his eyes off her. But when their gazes met one another, he quickly turned his head, hiding the blush rising from his face. Her brilliant sky-blue eyes locking with his own chestnut colored pair. It was electrifying.

"Hello there," Star beamed brightly at the boy.

He was mildly confused, turning his head left and right to see if she was waving at someone else.

"Me?" He blurted out. "You're talking to me?"

"Yeah, you silly," the girl giggled, before extending her hand. "Hi, I'm Star. What's your name?"

"Um… yeah… hi," the boy shook her hand, "I'm Marco."

"Nice to meet you, Marco. Let us be good friends from here on out, okay?"

"Yes… yeah," he blushed just as she smiled. "It would be an honor, ahem… to be friends with someone as pretty as you. Um… wait, no, no, that's not what I mean. You're not pretty. NO! What I meant to say is… it would be _my _honor to be… friends with someone of your particular… presentation… not to say you're not pretty, you are very pretty, just… no, what I meant to say is… oh, why is this happening? This wasn't part of the plan!"

Star gleefully giggled at the flustered boy.

"You're cute," she said.

It just made things worse from where he sat, as his face was now nothing but crimson red and steam furiously exhaling out of his own skin. The boy was out of his comfort zone, out of safety, because none of this was in the plan.

"Quiet down in the back there," the teacher raised his voice. "You can socialize after we're done with class, Mr. Diaz. But right now, I need you to pay attention."

"Sorry, sir," Marco stood up, even more flustered now as the whole class was looking on and chuckling in their seats, watching him shout out, "it won't happen again."

"Good," said the teacher. "Now where was I? Ah, yes. Listen up class. Imagine there is a hotel, inside there is an infinite amount of rooms with infinite amount of hotel guests being booked for the night…"

"Huh?" Star instantly turned her head towards the blackboard.

"Now," the teacher continued, "a new guest suddenly comes knocking at the front door, tired, and hungry. Probably annoyed when he overhears some of the employees say the hotel has been fully booked. But '_not to worry'_ says the hotel manager, as he goes on ahead and notifies all of the residents of the hotel, kindly asking the resident of room one to move to room two, room two to move to room three, and so on. Thus, effectively making a new room. Quite absurd and illogical."

"I don't think this is the kind of problem high school kids and teens should be thinking about in these early school years," said Star.

"Of course not, silly head," said the teacher. "I'm trying to set the stage here. This is a lesson for you, Star."

"I don't know, Dream," said Star. "A little math riddle or brain teaser or whatever isn't exactly going to change my answer."

"Surely it must change some perspectives, no?" Dream commanded. "You ask of me to let you keep your powers, let you live this life of luxury and ignore your responsibility just because of my infinite authority. It doesn't work like that young lady. You can't add one to infinity. The system is infinity, YOU are _part_ of the system, and I can't have someone else do what you do and add one to infinity if you still exist within the system."

"Why not?" Star tilted her head. "If you are infinite and eternal, then surely you can do it. And it should be a cake walk for you no less."

"Because I don't want to."

"AH HA!" Star cried triumphantly, snapping her fingers, "You can but you don't want to."

"It's boring."

"Not my problem, pal."

"It will be when you get a taste of infinity," said Dream. "Infinity is addicting. You're going to want change, stories, ideas. This life here, this simple mundane life. Is this your idea of a perfect world?"

The young girl glanced around the scene of the classroom. There she saw her classmates, her friends, the one she loves.

Janna, Jackie, Sabrina, StarFan, Lilacia, Justin, Kelly, and even Alphonse, Fergus and Brittney Wong. Simple life – simple friends.

But none of these were a guarantee. For that she turned to Marco Ubaldo Diaz. He looked at the boy whose smile were as bright as the sun. A boy who accepted her into his life even when he did not ask for it, and even with her destructive capabilities. He accepted her, and smiled on.

His warmth reassured her, and with that she turned back to Dream with her answer:

"Yes."

* * *

**Part 3: Go with Me?**

The school bell rang, thus the period had ended. Marco began to wonder what the next class was going to be. He cursed himself for leaving the timetable in his locker. He thought he didn't need it, under normal circumstances he could've memorized it fairly quick. But lately he had been rather distracted.

"Hey Marco," Star snuck up from behind him, glowing with glee.

"Ah, Star! You startled me."

"I know," she smiled. "Just came out of Math class, right?"

"Um… yeah, pretty interesting lesson. Ms. Skullnick actually brought up String Theory, for whatever weird reason. It's actually really cool. I should tell you about it sometimes."

"You know I love hearing you talk about the math."

"You rarely ever pay attention to any of the lessons," Marco smirked.

"Well… scratch that, I just like hearing you talk."

Marco blushed at the sight of her smile. Prompting him to pull up his hoodie and turn his face away.

"So the school dance is coming up," said Star as she skipped along the hallway. "I've been talking a bunch with my girls and we were thinking of coming in this year with style. Last year was good, but I feel we could do way better. Lily told us she wanted to rent a limousine. Can you imagine? That'll be something now, wouldn't it?"

"Um, actually, about the dance," Marco cleared his throat. "I've been meaning to talk to you about that."

"Oh?"

"Yeah… ahem…"

"Lay it on me buddy."

"I was thinking…" Marco's face continued to get redder as he glanced at Star's shimmering eyes, he tried to avert his gaze, but quickly shook his head, continuing to push on, "I was thinking… maybe… that maybe, we could… you know."

"Yeah?"

"That you and I… we could, you know… maybe go together to the dance?"

Star began to chuckle, in that brief instant, her laugh nearly dropped his heart into pieces.

"Well, duh. We're friends, Marco. Of course we'll go together. The more the merrier right? Janna's choice of music in the car last year was terrible I tell you. And Lily wouldn't get off her phone halfway through the night. So I'm definitely going to need my guy here with me."

"No, Star… um," said Marco. "What I'm trying to say is… ahem… I was thinking maybe we could… go together… just the two of us… to the dance… alone…"

"Oh…"

"Oh no," Marco gasped, "I made things weird. Why did I make things weird? No, no, no, I shouldn't have said that. Things are totally going to be awkward and different between us now, and she's going to hate you, and she's going to stop being friends with you and… and…"

"Marco, Marco," Star interrupted him, holding his shoulders, looking him in the eyes. With her cheeks getting warmer herself. "I… would… love to go with you to the dance actually."

"Really?" The boy's eyes lit up.

"Yeah," she smiled. "I think it could be fun."

"Great… great, I mean…" Marco cleared his throat, "Um… yeah… so…"

"So…"

"So… cool…"

"Cool…"

"I guess I'll see you around," said Marco, grabbing his books from his locker, "good talk, good talk. Got English coming up next. So be seeing you."

"Um, Marco?"

"Yeah?"

"We've got the same class silly," Star giggled.

"Oh…"

* * *

**Part 4: Make Him the Cutest that I've Ever Seen**

"Where did I… MOM!" Marco called out from his room, "Did you see where I put my comb? I could've sworn I left it here on my desk."

"Try looking in the drawer, honey," Angie yelled from the stairs, "your father may have borrowed it."

"Oh gosh, oh gosh," cried Marco. "Gotta hurry, can't be late. Where is my tie? Where is it? I know I left it in here somewhere. Wait a minute, where's my jacket? It was right here just a minute ago! Where… where… where…"

"Marco? Honey," his mother peaked into his room, "you doing alright here? You know you have another whole hour until the dance, right? And Star lives right next door, so you don't have to…"

"Of course I have to, mom!" He cried, desperately digging through the mountain of clothes all over his room. "Do you know how much stuff could be done within an hour? Like at the very least – a lot. A LOT I tell you."

"Chillax, bro-bro," Mariposa stood by the door, munching on a bag of chips. "You stress out too much your forehead wrinkles are going to show."

"I don't have forehead wrinkles!" Cried Marco. "At least I don't think… do I have forehead wrinkles? That shouldn't be physically possible!"

"I can see sweat traveling right down those lines, bro. I better take a picture of this, it's going to be so hilarious."

"Hush now, Mariposa," said Angie, "stop teasing your brother like that. You know it's a very big day for him."

"Your mother is right," Rafael popped up from behind. "Today is a very big day… for me as well. Oh, my son is becoming a man. They grow up so fast. I am just… so proud."

"Not helping," said Marco.

His thoughts were, however, cut off by the ringing of the bell. From the window they could see the Butterflys pull up by the sidewalk in front of the house with their brand-new car.

"Oh no!" Marco cried, "She's here! She's here! I'm not ready, I'm not…"

Mariposa cut the panicking boy off with several slaps to his face, grabbing him by the collar.

"Pull yourself together man! You and Star have been friends for YEARS. And tonight is your night. Are you going to let a little panic attack get in the way of a lifetime of happiness?"

"Um… no?"

"Say it like you mean it, brother! Let the Marimania run wild!"

"No," Marco shook his head, finally snapping out of it, "no, NO! You're right. You're absolutely right. Thank you, Mariposa. Tonight is the night, and I'm not about to let anything get in my way, not even if a planet falls out of the sky."

"YEAH, that's the spirit!" Mariposa shouted.

"Indoor voice, little sister," said Marco. "We need to get you off those wrestling shows on TV."

"I can't help it," smiled Mariposa. "Tonight I'm going to book my brother real strong."

"Right… how about you start by helping me find my jacket?"

* * *

**Part 5: A Cosmic Dance**

Marco took a whole good long while to step back and admire Star's radiant appearance for the night. Her usual long hair now tied up to a neat ponytail, with a lovely diamond hairpin securing it in place. Her dress, a seemingly traditional short pink cocktail dress with knee length skirt and straps over the shoulders.

But with a closer look, Marco began to see extra layers of silky frills woven expertly into various beautiful complex patterns laying on top, with a touch of smooth crimson color to spice things up, reminding him of the colors of the Blood Moon.

She smiled, beaming with light, and that warmth lit him up to a paradise he never thought he could reach in his lifetime.

"You look… beautiful."

"Thank you," Star smiled, twirling her hair as she hid her blush, "you look very dapper yourself. Look at you, getting all fancy with shoulder pieces, too."

"You like it? Apparently they call it epaulets, I had to look it up you see. It's traditionally used as an insignia for an officer's rank or status and all that, even worn by some royalties sometimes and in some ceremonies, too. I just… thought it looked cool, you know? Maybe I shouldn't have worn it tonight, you're so beautiful and I'm here just weird."

"Oh Marco," Star smiled, "you dork."

"Ah yes, yes," River guffawed as he got in between the two of them, holding them tight in his arms. "We all look lovely tonight, yes, yes, just absolutely magnificent I say."

River pulled Marco in close, and whispered in his ear:

"You bring our precious pumpkin back by ten or you're going to get it, Marco my boy. You got that?"

The boy gulped:

"Get… what?"

"IT!"

"Alright, enough prattling around everyone," Moon said, getting everyone's attention. "Come on, come on, let's get you two in for a quick little photo. Just a little something to commemorate the evening."

"Good idea, Moon-pie."

"Come, come, everybody gather around."

"This is going in the album for sure."

"Scooch over a little bit, will ya?"

"Now, now. Let's get the happy couple in the center right here."

"Alright, look straight into the camera now, don't blink yeah? Everyone, say Dream."

"_Dream!"_

* * *

**Part 6: The Happiest Day of My Life**

"… _Happy birthday, dear Star Butterfly – happy birthday to you!"_

"WOO HOO!"

"Hooray!"

"Woo, Star Butterfly girl, sweet 18, woo!"

"It's so wild."

"Go ahead, darling," Moon said. "Make a wish."

Star glanced deep into the flickering flame of the candles. All eighteen of them, knowing deep down she could've put A LOT more if she wanted accuracy, but for the humble feeling, the simplicity – eighteen would do just fine. A fire lighting brilliantly, without a trace of error or weakness. It lit consistent and stable, ready to be commanded.

And commanded she did. She made her wish, taking in one deep breath to blow them out with one swift gust. The room burst into a round of applause, laughter and cheers.

"Happy birthday, Star," Jackie said, raising a glass to her. "Stay awesome yeah?"

"You bet, ha-ha."

"Girl, I'm telling you this party is going to be off the roof," cried Lilacia. "You're gonna have the time of your life."

"Aw, thanks Lily," Star giggled. "I know you worked really hard to set all this up. Could barely get any of that beauty sleep I heard."

"Oh, don't thank me girl-friend," said Lilacia. "I'm going to be modest for once in my life and not take full credit. Because Turdina here definitely did way more stuff than me."

"Yeah, he did way more than any of us," said Janna. "He's been planning this for over a year."

"Oh, stop it guys," Marco laughed nervously, scratching the back of his head. "What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't do that? I have a chart and everything. It's very cohesive I tell you. Mathematically proven, too."

Star pounced right onto the young man, wrapping herself around his arm as the party laughed on.

"You're the best," she smiled, with her eyes glimmering like starlight.

"Anything for you, my Shooting Star."

"You spoil me, Diaz."

"You're my precious princess after all."

"Aww."

"I love you, Star."

"I love you, too."

The two lovebirds melted into each other's embrace, pulling themselves closer into a long passionate kiss. They felt the warmth, his beating heart that soothed her mind. It sang a rhythm like that of a lullaby, beautiful and mythical.

"You've really outdone yourself, Marco," said Star.

"Yeah, Turdina," Lilacia joined in. "And keeping it all a secret for so long, too."

"You know what?" Star stood up. "I'm going to make it up to you, just to repay you."

"Oh, Star, Star, please. Don't say that," said Marco. "It's your big day. You don't have to lift a finger."

"No can do, nacho man," Star grinned, almost like a playful schemer, "you're not the only one here who's been making plans."

"Yeah, I… um, wait what?"

He was completely caught off guard, having all his current thought interrupted. And the same went for everybody else at the party. They all turned their heads, no matter how far away they were, no matter what they were doing. All standing there, petrified – the moment Star got down to one knee, tenderly holding Marco's hand.

The young girl glanced up to him, with her trademark shimmering eyes of starlight, smiling warmly from ear to ear.

"Marco Ubaldo Diaz," Star began, "my beloved boyfriend, my prince – my best friend. You have been with me through thick and thin, since the very beginning. Since the day we were kids… the day we met – the day we became friends. It is a memory that I will forever cherish. From here until the end of time."

With a wave of her hand, Star conjured up a strange wave of cosmic dust. With her skillful and delicate fingers, she weaved these essences together, letting the sand form into solids, thus crafting them into something special – a ring.

"Every day that I am with you," Star continued, "I feel I am blessed. And now with these new cosmic senses, I KNOW I am blessed. Because I have you here in my life, lighting me up with your endless kindness, your never-ending wealth of knowledge, your great sense of humor, and your nachos…"

Several people in the back chuckled as she spoke, others shushed the laughter, replacing them with the sound of admiration for the girl's attempt at the next step. Star held up the ring, a glimmering stone, more precious than any diamond, made from a material that had never existed. And she continued:

"I love you. I love how thoughtful you are, and how noble you are, even as a vessel of something terrible. Your righteousness inspires me in ways you can't imagine, inspires me with your love. I just hope I can be worthy of that love. I WANT to be worthy of that love, your love. So Marco Ubaldo Diaz, my beautifully handsome prince, my boyfriend, my hero, my soul-mate, my best friend – will you marry me?"

Silence.

The people stood by, anxiously holding their breath for the young man's response. It shocked them all, on such a special occasion no less. And under certain points of view, so soon, too. They were so young. Just now one step into adulthood. Were they really prepared for something so grand and significant?

A question answered swiftly by Marco's own tears of joy.

The young man's face turned red, warm and bright. With that radiance, he nodded his head:

"Star Butterfly, I will marry you."

The entire room burst into a massive cheer, with loud confetti and screams of happiness dominating the atmosphere. They cracked open all the bottles of wine, bottles they were saving for the rest of the night, but this special occasion had just gotten more special, so the time to let it pop was ripe.

Everyone cheered, everyone clapped, and they swooned at the sight of the two young lovebirds kissing each other passionately after Star had put the ring on Marco's finger. Their lips locked with one another for what felt like an eternity, and both knew they would not have it any other way.

Everything was perfect.

Star showed Dream this perfection.

Letting the Sandman look on as he stood by in the corner, sand dripping from his cape.

* * *

**Part 7: The Wedding**

"Do you, Star butterfly, take Marco Ubaldo Diaz to be your wedded husband, to cherish in friendship and in love today, tomorrow, yesterday, and for as long as Dream lives, to trust and honor him faithfully, through Evil and War, through Ragnarok and whatever else may come, until the end of time?"

"I do."

"Do you, Marco Ubaldo Diaz, take Star Butterfly to be your wedded wife to live together in marriage? Do you promise to love her, comfort her, honor and keep her for better or worse, in darkness and chaos, in the sixth or eleventh dimension, and forsaking all others in the universe, be faithful only to her, unless Fate do you part?

"I do."

"By the powers vested in me under the authority of myself, Dream and my sister, Fate, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride."

They all clapped, they cheered, they cried and screamed of joy when Star and Marco embraced one another, locking lips together, forming this singularity, a celestial union with great cosmic significance.

This life was perfect.

Star could not be happier in her beautiful white gown, with pure galaxies woven beautifully into the silk. And in her arms her best friend, her soulmate, clad in his dark black suit, a suit of a hero, a god.

But truth of the matter was…

Your perfection was only an illusion.

"You don't know that," said Star.

"I am," Dream replied. "Thus, I know. Behold."

* * *

**Part 8: The Arcane Revelation**

"Hello, wife person," Rafael greeted.

"Hello, husband person," said Angie. "How has your day been?"

"Very fine, beautiful wife person. I have arrived here at the time and date agreed beforehand, for the birth of our newborn infant human daughter."

"Oh yes, it was quite a long process. But I've endured it. Come, husband person. Come take a look at our daughter."

"Of course… oh my, she looks very good. Like a healthy human baby."

"Indeed."

"It is good. I shall now deliver this infant to the nurse, to be shipped off to a caring facility far, far away."

"It is efficient."

"Quite so, wife person."

* * *

"This is a joke, right?" Star raised her eyebrow towards Dream. "What is this?"

"A world without Evil. Without the negative axis."

"I don't believe you. You're lying."

"Go ahead," said Dream, handing her in his palm a universe. "Make your own simulation. See how it turns out. See what happens when you take away the other side of the same coin. Reality falls apart. If you destroy Reality, I must follow suit. If you destroy Dream, Reality will crumble. If you kill Evil, Good people cannot look into the mirror to understand or reflect the values of Good, and vice versa."

"No… it can't… be…"

"They're the rules of nature. Everything in the universe has its place. Otherwise, this uncanny impossible world emerges. A world where immoral acts are considered the norm, because people have no frame of reference. A world where all the Good things are trivialized – Love, Kindness, Sympathy, Altruism, Decency, Humanity. You wouldn't want your child to grow up in a world like that, do you? To be shipped away, or worse?"

"But…" Star began contemplating, but still shaking her head, "how does this concern me? I live in Dream Land, separate from this supposed reality where Marco and I have abandoned our posts."

"You think Marco abandoned his post? You think your Dream world is perfect?" He smirked. "Dream begs to differ. Behold."

* * *

**Part 9: A God's Pride**

Beyond the darkness of the minds, the shadows, the chaos, deep in the black void where no good could be born, sat a man – waiting patiently.

He was comfortable on the couch, elbows resting by the side, fingers interlocking with one another. He sat there, letting the darkness consume him, bending to his will. The black to be his slave, and the red of his eyes glowed of the patient anger.

The man was silent. Perhaps too silent, not even a light quiet huff of his breath emerged from his lungs. He had been sitting there for a long time, hours, perhaps even days. But he did not move an inch. Not to scratch an itch or even to get up to eat, drink or go to the bathroom.

It was only when the lights were turned back on by the owner of this home could one finally get a clear look at the visage of the man. Grey, grim, and crumbling like hard stones, or like dying tree barks of a plant being sucked dry of its life forces on a wasteland beyond the comprehension of health. An empty land, with only one Evil king sitting at the top of the throne of flesh and scraps.

Jeremy was shocked to find this strange man in his room. He didn't recognize him at first, because the man wore a dark suit with a sharp red tie and crimson cape hanging from behind his shoulders. His long hair and dry stone-like skin did not help either. And most terrifying of all was the smirk.

"Marco?" Jeremy stood there, still speechless.

But the man still sat there, firm with his grin on his face. Still, unmoving and comfortable as a rock, daring the boy to deduce how he managed to break into his home. But Jeremy could not say. He could not move, petrified by some unknown sense hidden deep inside of him, a sense that Marco somehow knew exactly how to control.

After a few good long minutes, Marco stood up and walked towards the fridge by the corner. He casually pulled out a whole carton of milk, must have been at least four liters or so. He pulled off the cap and proceeded to just chuck the liquid straight down his throat, lips touching the rim and all. He didn't even get out a glass or cup somewhere in the cupboard.

It was about at the halfway point before Marco let out a big satisfying sigh. Followed swiftly by him dropping the carton and the remaining half inside straight onto the ground, while staring right at Jeremy's helpless eyes with devilish delight.

Still not finished.

He pulled out of the fridge a big bar of chocolate. Marco could tell by a glance at Jeremy's whimper that the boy had been saving this whole bar for later. All the more reason for Marco to smile as he removed the thin wrapper and crumbled it into a ball, proceeding to break the chocolate apart into little pieces, not to eat them himself, no. Instead to just chuck it on the ground where the spilled milk was, crumbling right at his mighty feet. He didn't even break the pieces off by the squares and lines, deliberately crushing it off by diagonals, zigzags, and so on.

Marco took another glance around the room, spotting Jeremy's prestigious karate trophy by the distance. Meticulously placed right above the fireplace, carefully set in the center of the counter, in between a family photo and a framed karate belt with a certificate inside. Marco could not help but grin.

The man walked over to where it sat, seemingly to admire this display, almost like a shrine of some sort. He gazed back to the boy who at this point still stood frozen at the door, trembling with unknown and unexplainable fears. Marco smirked from ear to ear, and with a single finger, he slowly reached closer towards the golden trophy almost as if to touch it.

But instead he merely moved the trophy to the left, just a hair off center. Nothing more, nothing less. It seemed insignificant on the surface, but standing from afar one would definitely be annoyed at this slight imperfect placement that could be spotted a mile away.

The imperfection cackled at Jeremy, and the boy was too terrified to respond.

Marco walked back towards the entrance where Jeremy stood, about to exit. But not before rubbing his filthy chocolate covered fingers dripping with milk all over Jeremy's new shirt, once all over the fabric, and once rubbing on the boy's hair, messing it up into a sloppy bush.

The cherry on top was a loud vulgar uncovered cough being blasted right onto the boy's face, letting the spit fly free all over his cheeks, his eyes.

Jeremy was in absolute shock. He could not for the life of him explain how. But all he could manage even when Marco left was a whimper as the boy collapsed on his knees:

"Why?"

Marco looked back, with the biggest most devilish smile he could muster:

"Because I can."

* * *

**Part 10: The Dark Side of Freedom**

"This… isn't the Marco I know," said Star.

Dream shook his head:

"But it is."

"No… no… we… I can get rid of this. Get rid of this negativity in my Dream world."

"How?" Dream asked. "This is the God of Evil. He is Evil, and Evil is him. You get rid of Evil, you get rid of him."

"Listen to him, Star," a familiar voice echoed. "Lord Dream is infinite and eternal. He knows his stuff."

Star turned her head to glance back at the endless space beyond her. And there she saw him – a blue genie looking old man with a crystal on his forehead.

"Glossaryck?"

"At your service, milady," Glossaryck bowed his head.

"What are you doing here? Where did you…"

"It's been quite a while hasn't it?" The old man laughed. "I have a new job now. God of Freedom as Fate calls it. Some of the perks are nice, but the work hours, hoo, pretty rough I tell you."

"Come work for me instead, Glossy," Dream smiled. "I have cookies."

"Tempting offer, but your sister has pudding. So no dice."

"Aw."

"But listen, Star," Glossaryck clapped his hands together, shooting her a serious gaze. "This – all of it, the responsibility, the powers, the new pantheon. They're part of the job. It's not an adventure, it's not thrilling. It's merely work. And you just have to do it."

"Easy for you to say," said Star. "You're Free. Free to do whatever you want."

"There are darker sides to Freedom, Star. Unpleasant sides. It's not always on the positive axis."

"Why does that matter?" She asked. "We are gods. We have power. We are Free to do what we want."

"It doesn't mean you should," said Dream.

"You want the Freedom to choose?" Glossaryck raised his eyebrow, "Then go ask Marco what he chose."

"What?"

"Marco chose Evil!"

Space shattered. Time lost. Dimensions scrambled.

All under the screams of confusion.

* * *

**Part 11: Eternal Holy War**

"Sire," Voiceful Ruby said as he knelt, "I've brought you livestock and sacrifices just as you commanded. All from the households spread throughout Echo Creek. The Flesh is ripe, milord."

"Excellent," Marco's heavy voice boomed. "Fall in, child. I shall use the Wrathmelior vessel to make them Suffer."

"As it is, milord."

Rising from the mountains of scrap metal and burning flesh, the god stood high from his throne. He was tall, bigger than the puny ants beneath him. And he cast a shadow so large it dwarfed all of New Earth. When he spoke, the plates of the earth itself trembled under the might and will of his voice, a terrible voice. So incredibly heavy, you would not be able to lift it.

"PEOPLE OF NEW EARTH," Marco began echoing across space and time, raising his hand to the endless cosmos. "The time has come – for you to bow down before your god and master. I am the virus, the black void at the center of all things, the force to subdue all other forces of the universe. For I am. I am constant, never-ending, everlasting. Today, will mark the day of the new Meta cycle, a new beginning for a new pantheon, where I, the GOD OF EVIL, shall take his place as god supreme above _everything!_ I am infinite! I am eternity! I – AM – ALL!"

Hosanna!

But fires from the sky decreed otherwise. Raining down powerful bolts of pure energy.

"Argh! What fire is this?" Marco grunted, infuriated at the interruption of his glory.

God fire, Dream announced.

A flame birthed from a special cosmic force named the Red. A force serving the one and only God of Deliverance Hekapoo. A god fire that could never be extinguished.

This was the ammunition of the New Mewman, the energy powering their pantheon. And at the core was their leader, their war general – Star Butterfly.

"_MARCO, ENOUGH!"_

The God-Mother descended from the endless skies of New Mewni unto the cursed soils of New Earth, with tears and anger in her eyes. She was clad in heavy armor, blue capes flowing in the wind, alongside her golden gloves powered by fifth dimensional plasma powerful enough to create a big bang the size of infinite universes. On her left hand clenched a fist of righteous fury, fueled by pure energy and willpower, on her right hand a spear with the legendary blade of Ouroboros on top, a blade longer than any snake, one that could cut deeper than any fang. The Spear of War.

Marco could feel the powers flowing from within the God-Mother. Thus, he grimaced towards the heavens, cursing the names of Good.

"You dare?" He shouted, "You dare?"

"I do, cruel one," the God-Mother answered.

"Fool!" Marco cried. "You pretend to be Good, dear wife. But you are just as ruthless, if not more than I am, dear wicked God of War."

"Not War," Star shot him a powerful glare. "Republic."

Marco sneered:

"A false name for a false god."

"'Tis true that my hands are soaked with innocent blood throughout the cosmos. But I now take my responsibility, my place in the universe, and stand here against you. I can no longer allow Evil to run rampant out there in Reality, tipping the balance scale, while I and your avatar live happily here in Dream. We – are – Meta Gods. We can do many things, rebuild those we have lost, create things anew in the new era. I don't want to lose you to Evil, Marco. But I don't want to live this false life in the Dream world, either. Fight it, fight the darkness, let someone else take the mantle, and we can be together again."

"Save your speeches. Begone with your beseeches. You should've stayed by my side. With me, with the Forces of Evil. Does this ring on my finger mean nothing to you anymore?"

"I… of course it does. I love you, Marco. But we must follow our Fate. We must."

Marco stood there, staring at his beloved wife. His red eyes raging with disappointment.

"You… you've changed," he sighed. "You must hate me now. That must be it. Our love was once true, freed from the Blood Moon Curse. And now you dare talk to me of Fate?"

"Marco… my love for you is still true. We belong together."

"Then are you saying the battle between Good and Evil is inevitable?" He snapped. "Is it destined to happen?"

"I – am – NOT – Good," Star pleaded with him. "I am Republic. I am… not… perfect."

"Then join me, Star. We can be together here in Dream. Let Reality fall. We… we belong with each other. I… I love you, Star."

And yet, a gloomy cloud still surrounded Star's eyes. Burdening them with sadness and pain.

"I'm sorry."

The God-Mother raised her spear up high with great melancholy, prepared to slice down, tearing a fabric in their Dream world and releasing everything back to where they belonged. The plasma in her gloves lit up, and lightning began to spark from her body. The ground itself began to shake.

"STOP!" Marco shouted, coughing violently. "You destroy our Dreams, and you'll throw away our love! Don't do it! We were going to have a daughter, I've seen it. You were going to name her Angela, like my mother. She would grow up normal, humble, and on Earth, away from the grief of magic, away from the GODS. Don't you want that?"

Star reluctantly glanced up to look at Marco in his Evil eyes. Now with tears wetting her cheeks. She forced out a hiccup, and in her sobbing, she managed a soft whimper:

"I have long wished for a way for us to somehow cleave together our two worlds, Mewni and Earth. Once upon a time, once upon a dream – just so this God World wouldn't have come to be. Goodbye, Marco."

Marco grunted with hellish fury:

"NO! If I can't have you here in Dream, then I'll bring everybody from Reality here instead. I'll bring about an apocalypse, a Ragnarok, where everybody in Reality will die an infinite number of deaths! I will pull New Earth and New Mewni towards each other with my bare hands, smashing them together!"

"I don't think so, Evil one," Hekapoo spoke from the heaven, spitting a spark of god fire at Marco's feet, as a warning shot. "I cannot allow you to tip the balance scale any longer."

"Worm! You dare speak to me of permission, Prometheus?" Marco said, stepping right on top the fire that would not cease burning.

"I speak not as the Old God, but instead the God of Deliverance, a Meta God of the new world."

"I do not take orders from ineffective deities. Old or New."

"_Maybe not_," another familiar voice echoed. From afar, Marco could see a messenger with winged boots. She was fast, but Marco could see her, and he recognized her.

Mariposa descended and landed before them. Dusting herself off, and echoing her Words:

"Brother…"

"Sister…"

"Listen to me, Marco… you know this is folly. You know you and Star are the most powerful beings in our multiverse. Which can only mean one thing."

"And pray tell, sister, what is that one thing?" Evil raised his eyebrow.

"Mutually assured destruction," Mariposa replied. "Assuming you both go all out."

Marco clenched his bony hands into a pair of raging fists. He glared at the New Mewman pantheon, unblinking.

"So it is," he grumbled. "Then the only thing left to be birthed from this stalemate…"

"… is a treaty," said Star, as she lowered her Spear of War, letting the tip touch gently on the metal surface they stood on with the plasma blade still steaming hot as it cooled.

"Done – and can never be undone."

There on this massive decaying God World, two gods stood on top a throne of scrap and flesh. One descended from the paradise above, the other rose from the depths of inferno below.

Let it be known on this day – the universe almost met its demise, and I, Lord Dream was almost powerless to stop it.


	11. Welcome to New Mewni

New Mewni – was a vast world.

So big that there exist no word in the human language to describe it. Not that one could adequately describe it in the god tongue anyway, or at least if spoken by the god children who roamed the Golden Butterfly City. As numerous as the stars in the sky and the sand on the shores.

These were the children of Mewni, children of the Republic.

And it was the duty of the one and only Janna Ordonia, God of Science, to protect the green luscious land of New Mewni, riding far beyond the horizon on her trusty Cloudy. It was a vast network, an Artificial Intelligence placed at the heart of the city spanning all corners of the land. Mainly used to communicate, to transfer, and most importantly, to protect. It was the city's first line of defense against foreign Forces of the multiverse. Alerting the God of Science the moment a tiny bug the size of a quark even thought of touching the barrier of this God World.

And yet despite all of that, today there she witnessed the first of a kind. Something never seen before for centuries, billions of years, or even an eternity.

A mortal infiltrating the Republic without her knowing.

Equally horrifying, that infiltrator was none other than the God-Mother Herself. Or rather, she was an alternate version of Her, who came from another universe.

The Meta Gods of the New World were old. Paradoxically older than time itself, and yet the God of Science did not have Janna's face until recently, when there was a shift in the structure of the multiverse – a Cleaving, a catalyst.

Despite their age, seeing this alternate version of the God-Mother was still quite the shocking experience to Janna. The fusion process had yet to fully kick in for all timelines. That she could understand.

But what she was still racking her brain about was how the young girl got here, as if materializing out of nowhere. The only logical conclusion led to a being with equal if not greater power than Republic Herself. The King of New Earth, ruling over his depraved field of scrap metal and rotten flesh.

Science had faith in her God-Mother the Republic, for She was the most powerful of the New Mewmans. But even so, sometimes faith was simply not enough to satisfy the curious brains. Children would often ask questions, but Janna was Science, she would never ask – she would pursue.

"Greetings Science," a God waved her hand from afar.

Janna turned her vehicle around. Eyes meeting the mighty frog wearing her thick uniform, with a golden medal pinned on the front of the red vest and two hefty epaulets on her shoulders.

"Yvgeny, my good friend," she said. "You're back already?"

"Not exactly. My Old God soul entered my old body, Buff Frog's body, from years ago, when I followed the God-Mother back in time. It shouldn't take long now before the past body becomes the present."

"What of our other guests then?" Janna asked. "Any of them going through soul fusion yet?"

Hekapoo shook her head:

"I'm still keeping an eye on them. The souls of the old Queens may prove difficult to handle. They were not immortal when they were alive, so their moods may be volatile, unlike other types of gods."

"Keep at it then, I'm going to talk to the God-Mother. Where is She?"

"Showing the alternate Star around, in the Citadel. Can you not use Cloudy to see where She is?"

"Certain limitations were put in place in our search engines," Janna explained. "I need to figure out if there are any holes in our defenses, especially exploitable ones."

"I'll leave you to it. Let me know if you need anything."

Janna rode off from the vast cosmic golden street up into the air where the wind blew against her path. She could feel the God-Mother's aura from all the way down here in the streets. The Citadel was vast, with one million one hundred and one rooms housing infinite sets of guests from the Five Houses of Representatives. These were the Butterflies, the Pigeons, the Waterfolks, the Pony Heads and the Avarius. All serving under the great Constitution of this immense God-land. The citadel was like a tower, and a castle, or both and neither at the same time. It was the highest structure by far, built on top of this space elevator that was holding up the entirety of the Golden Butterfly City, lying at the very center with a protective golden asteroid ring floating in and about the perimeter.

This was home to the God-Mother, because She declared long ago that She would not be a Queen, nor an Empress of New Mewni. This was no longer to be a monarch. Instead, She would be a part of the people, equal to the other Houses' voices, opportunities and rights. Despite being the most powerful of us all, She had let all walks of life from far and wide speak their minds, no matter how big or small.

Who was the God-Mother truly? Was She really the youthful reckless Star Butterfly of old? It was hard to believe for an outsider. But it was a question only She Herself and Destiny could answer.

Janna was hesitant to enter Her chamber, however. Seeing Her inside, introducing alternate Star her son, Orion Starson. That would be quite the talk that one. And this was a private moment between them no less, thus Janna felt intruding upon would bring to herself Republic's wrath. Or at the very least Her annoyance, masked behind Her kindness.

Besides – there were bigger fish for Science to fry. Such as alternate universe Janna.

She could already feel her alternate self's memories flooding back in her mind, despite the alternate not even aware of it. Would she even understand any of this? Science wondered.

It was complicated, some people may even call nonsensical, paradoxical. But this was the nature of the God World. And nobody short of Destiny or Dream could force the river to flow upward instead of down. For the nature of things was Reality, and Dream was King behind Reality. And here in the Golden City of the gods we Dreamt, Dreaming of better days, of higher worlds.

This was our nature.

Some Gods go through soul fusion much earlier than others, such as Janna here herself, or Eclipsa – God of Peaceful Death. Those like these two were able to take up arms and duty much more fully than others, like Yvgeny for example, who had to follow the God-Mother backwards in time to take another alternate Buff Frog body. Must she be called Hekapoo? Or Yvgeny? Or something new entirely? Only time may tell.

But time was of the essence, the Summit between the Five Houses will take place soon. And we were about to move to the next step of this Eternal Holy War.

Before that however – a quick trip backwards in time was in order.

"Let's go, Cloudy," said Janna before pressing a button on her lever, summoning forth a massive portal in the sky. The sound sang of hymns echoing across the golden sky as it burst open, revealing a long path backwards to the start, the location Science desired to go.

These were the things Science feared alternate Janna would not understand. How the technology of the God Worlds allowed space-time travel at a click of a button.

Most other god citizens of New Mewni wielded Fountain Pens that functioned as these portal openers (often written as Ryzrtsero-vah, ironically impossible to describe on paper, as its name written from the god language would often change with every interaction.)

Science on the other hand, had access to Cloudy. Much more powerful than the Pens could ever be. Often faster, too. Perhaps not as fast as the God Couriers Mariposa and Meteora. But they shall do their jobs. The Pens were not weapons, they were tools. But Cloudy – he was much more deadly than most things in existence.

Delivering Janna to the other side – there in the distance she could see Glossaryck conversing with the first Mewmans and the first Queen, moments before handing them the magic wand. He seemed like an empty husk, for this was a vision of the Old World, and Glossaryck no doubt had evolved into a Meta God as well. The only trouble was figuring out where he was in the present and which god he was. The mortals won't be able to tell the difference between the husk and a god regardless.

This was not the time period Janna was looking for however. This was the history of Mewni, but what Janna wanted was the beginning of the world. Thus, she must travel further back.

And out to the other side once more at a click of a button.

Before there was civilization, before there were walls, cities, towers, kings, rulers, citizens, cars, roads, wheels, news, television, Propaganda, Science.

Before the time of man.

There in this wild plain of grass and growing trees lived the creatures who would eventually evolve into mankind. They wore their animal hide over their bare bodies, striding around with their wooden clubs and spears in their hands, doing as their nature dictated them. The hunger for Surviving Flesh, for their own Survival. They sniffed at the air, scouting out for that there meat prancing about without a care in the distance, that was their target.

They didn't even notice the god hovering above them on top of the pink Cloud. Their minds were too mortal, too easy to break. So it was impossible to process the sight of this massive being watching over them from above. To them, all they saw were the grass, the trees, the ground, the air, the sky, the sun. She was simply too big.

"Early tribes of men," Janna whispered beneath her breath. "Cloudy, which tribe was this?"

"_Bzzz… bzzz…_ _too loose a collection to be categorized, too early to develop a tribal identity. 38 percent of the population to be eventual ancestors to the various tribes of Northern Africa. One of which is Destined to bear the bloodline of Ancient Egyptians."_

The beasts swung their wooden clubs at their prey the moment their stone spear found its mark. The blunt force of the weapon killed the animal instantaneously. There dancing above its corpse, the beasts of man signaled to their fellow brethren, gathering to tear the meat apart.

"_Hard to believe such primitive creatures would evolve to be so powerful, wouldn't you agree, Janna?"_

A low rumbling voice echoed right across this bloody plain, there beyond where the beasts were still feasting furiously – a horrid sight of a looming shadow. The massive shadow of a dark god sitting comfortably on his throne of scrap and flesh. Staring straight at Janna with his heavy crimson eyes.

"Devil!" Janna pointed her finger, taking a step back in shock. "You followed me?"

"Come now," said Marco. "That is no way to greet a friend," out from the shadow emerged the face of the young boy, that handsome human face, with his silky smooth brown hair and glimmering brown eyes. It seemed as if nothing had ever changed, as if he was still that same charming boy, grinning so pleasantly.

"Don't you dare tempt me, demon," Janna leapt closer to Cloudy, prepared to defend herself. "Show me your true face, insult me not with the face of the past."

His grin quickly disappeared, replaced by a dark grimace as his human skin crumbled into dust, revealing his thick stony complexion, and his devilish long dark hair floating in the wind. He seemed displeased somehow. But deep down, Janna knew this wasn't a real attempt at coercion, instead just a simple spit on her face, reminding her of what he once was – a noble soul.

"You speak unlike yourself, Janna." Marco continued his sweet voice. "What happened to that once quirky girl who was into the occult? What happened to the fun Janna?"

"I sensed a disturbance within the infinite timelines," she ignored his questions. "I never thought it would be caused directly by you of all people."

Marco responded with a chuckle:

"Directly is a strong word. But indirectly is incorrect as well. This is merely the result of my power, the result… of the prophecy."

Janna clenched her fist, knowing full well the full might of the Devil King. Only the God-Mother was a match for him, even then, to achieve a stalemate would take everything She had. A direct confrontation against this demon was not an option for Janna.

"You know of the prophecy, too," said Marco. "Don't you? Being a seer yourself."

"Be still your falsehood," Janna snapped. "I am Science. Things of supernatural origins such as that are not in my nature."

"But you can tell what's going to happen regardless. Through calculations of probability you can accurate predict upcoming events. Call it what you want, call it math, call it logic. I will call you a seer."

"How does that matter to anything?"

Marco smirked:

"I – can – see – too."

"What?"

"The future is in my gaze," he said, holding two fingers in front of his eyes, as if squeezing a tiny bug between them, "tiny subatomic particles ramming into each other to create a series of domino effects, butterfly effects. Echoing and vibrating along other subatomic strings across the universe – thus, we have cause and effect. The action of everything sentient in all of reality, dictated by tiny particles bonding and dispersing, dictated by Destiny. They are wave functions. You are aware, yes?"

"Of course."

"Then run back to your Golden City, if you know what's good for you. I'm letting you go as a warning. The calm before the storm, you see."

"This is a violation of the treaty and you know it," Science declared. "This is before the time of man, before civilization, before times of morality. There are no morals in the survival of non-sentient animals, there is no Evil in their hearts. Their actions are dictated by Surviving Flesh. Your minion, but not you. You have no place here."

Marco shook his head in solemn darkness:

"This is your problem right there, it has always been your problem. You see things in sets of numbers and mathematics, not in the perspectives of ancient laws, traditions, constitutions. I have yet to violate anything, you can ask your Leader about it and She would not dare oppose me. Gods are not defined by what we cannot do, we are defined by what we are not allowed to do. To impose the will of these primitive beasts on lesser beings is my domain, to strike fear and punishment in their hearts is my jurisdiction. Look at the way they feast on the animal. Deny it all you want, but my sword holds around their necks, for I have them in my grasp."

"Perhaps," Janna gritted her teeth in rage. "But where there is darkness, there is the light of gold, the light that shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not."

Janna rolled out a small pill capsule hidden behind her teeth using her tongue, cracking it open with her fangs. And there a loud metal snap echoed and the sound of air escaping from within exhaled with great Force. From the capsule emerged the spark.

Marco raised his eyebrow, shocked by the fact he did not see that coming, by some ungodly reason.

"Pity your future vision did not inform you of this," Janna pointed her finger in one hand, with the other holding a spark of raging star fire glimmering in her palm. "You may overpower me, that's no lie. But I – am – still – a Meta God. My size and power is still enough to cancel out your reality warping to a certain degree, enough to cloud your vision of the future."

"The fires of Prometheus," Marco grunted, "no… Hekapoo."

"Precisely. She lent this to me, for it is my duty to protect the timelines from your wicked hands. I will stalemate you for as long as it takes. Never allowing you to twist Reality to your Desire."

And thus, with a precise twisting motion of her arm, Janna was able to launch the fire forth into the great distance where the tribe of men were still feasting. Striking down a nearby tree with the furious Force of a god, lighting up with fire gifted from the heavens.

"In the darkness of fear, of Evil, there shall be the light of knowledge to guide mankind forward," Janna declared. "My God-Mother has taught me well, and these are the teachings I will gift to these tribes of men. In the name of Prometheus."

"Hmm… very peculiar that you would carry out Old God ways in the New World," said Marco.

"It is no longer Hekapoo's duty to pass down wisdom and gifts to humankind."

"Yes but it's clearer to me than ever that your army is weak. Not enough gods on your side, at least not yet. This shall be useful."

"Do as you wish," said Janna. "The Summit will occur shortly. It's something I doubt even you can survive once it reaches its conclusion. I guarantee you, you alone will not be a match against the full might of New Mewni."

And with that, Science pulled firmly on Cloudy's lever, opening a massive portal for her to travel through. In the distance she could see the tribe of men on their knees bowing down before the fire from heaven, just mere moments before she was all the way through inside the portal. This was her gift to the world, the gift of New World's knowledge.

"Go forth back to your Mother, dear Science," said Evil. "I will not waver."

Because when he said he did not break any part of the treaty, he indeed was telling the truth.

There just as the sapiens began to gather the heaven's fire onto their wooden clubs, swinging it around their fellow men as a show of power and dominance, the sapiens stomped their feet, roared for the war and blood of those who would not submit to the strong ones wielding fiery knowledge. Thus their battle cries were loud and clear:

"_For Darkseid!_"

A shout of worship. Invoking his name.

"They go to war, my dear Star…" Evil whispered. "You are War no more, so I shall take their prayers in your place. Just admit it, my love. You miss this, don't you?"


	12. The Citadel

"WHAT – IS – GOING – ON?" Star asked God-Mother.

The room they stood in was a small humble room, crafted out of silver looking slabs of bricks that were arranged in alternating patterns. There hanging on the walls were tapestries woven out of what looked like goat skin, depicting strange imagery and poetry that spanned what seemed like miles and miles of endless wall. They were not like any of the old tapestry Star had seen back home on Mewni in her Grandma Room, where the images being depicted were a lot more literal. Here they were just made up of simpler shapes and vague colors of things that seemed so familiar and yet so alien.

One tapestry depicted what seemed like a global battle between massive gods descending from the sky from heavenly fires. These gods were so massive, the mortals down beneath their feet seemed microscopic in comparison. Another tapestry depicted a large beast tempting mortals with an ancient godly artifact. The monster looked almost like Globgor to Star for some stranger reason, she could not put her finger on it.

Beneath the endless wall was surprisingly a small baby crib. Granted, one that was built with strange electrical circuitry running through the materials. It rocked back and forth almost seemingly all on its own, as if it was a machine programmed specifically for the purpose. Across the crib was a desk made of some strange red looking oak, though Star couldn't really tell what its actual material was. It easily housed a dozen if not a hundred books being shelved behind some wooden cases, placed neatly above an open book on the table. Lying next to that book were fountain pens, the ones that Star picked up not long ago and used for herself. She had since then realized that those were no ordinary pens.

"I have given you temporary god vision," Republic replied. As She walked over to the window of the room, glancing down to the vast Golden Butterfly City, stretching beyond the horizon. "You can see what I see… most of them at least. You will interpret my abode with things that are more familiar to your mortal experience."

"This, all this. This is just some kind of prank isn't it?"

"No."

"AHA, I knew it. All this – Tom being gone, Marco in his weird make up, and you… just you… it's all just an elaborate prank, I can see right through you, you prankster. You don't even cheek marks. And what is this weird armor you're wearing?"

"I know it's hard to believe," She said, "but what I have told you so far is the truth. Trust me – because if you don't, who else can you trust? I'm you."

"It's just not possible. Magic is supposed to be gone."

"It's not magic. It's scientific."

"I went to school, thank you very much. And I've never seen any of these… things in chemistry class. Though I suppose I always end up messing up the class entirely, turning people into frogs. We almost dissected Marco once."

"I didn't say it is Science," said God-Mother. "I said it is scientific. Meta Gods technology is… complicated. I am complicated. This body here, the body you're talking to right now, this isn't me. It is merely an aspect of my infinite self."

God-Mother clapped her hands together, and the booming of her hands could easily be heard across the entirety of New Mewni. Her mechanical gloves sparkled of great god energy, roaring with unhinged electricity coursing through her entire body. It lit up her armor, her cape, and even her golden hair. Shining that familiar golden sheen that Star immediately recognized. The golden color that matched exactly like that of her own Golden Butterfly form.

"This…" Republic's voice boomed, "is the Heart. It is not magic. But it is a unique cosmic Force that I alone have access to. Inside of my mind, my soul, my heart is an extra-dimensional space existing on a higher plane – called the Heart. A whole universe worth of energy at the tip of my fingers. Every Meta God has something similar to this."

"What… can it do?" Said Star, with her jaw on the ground, and her hand shielding her eyes.

"You may have heard this before. But Meta Gods are defined by what they are not allowed to do, much less defined by what they cannot do."

"I… haven't heard of that. But wait, if you're me, then how come I don't have access to this… force, or whatever it is?"

"A tree branch may catch some moisture in the air from the North winds, but do you think it can influence the roots to transfer water and nutrients to a specific branch?"

"Trees can't do anything. They're trees."

"I'm not referring to a literal tree. I'm talking about the Platonic idea of a tree."

"Pla… what?"

"I miss this, you know? I miss our youthful energy."

"What on earth happened to you?" Star took a step back, "I think I need to lie down."

Just as she finished her sentence, a bed magically appeared out of nowhere behind her for her to fall down onto. White mattress, white pillows, and white blanket. Seemed basic enough until her skin made contact with quite possibly the smoothest thing she had ever experienced in her life. It felt like she was sleeping on clouds, space clouds of the infinite cosmos flowing so infinitely that one would never want to ever wake up ever again.

"The Citadel is very accommodating," said God-Mother. "Make yourself at home."

"This feels AMAZING!" Said Star as she began making a snow angle motion, a pillow angel as she would probably call it. Letting herself sink into the cloudy smoothness. "You still haven't answered my question, though. What on earth happened to you? What's going to happen to me? Is this my future?"

"_Mother?"_

There peeking out of the doorway into the room was that same young boy Star met earlier in that one room with Penny. He wore that same golden outfit and peculiar disc-shaped collar. What peculiar fashion the New Mewmans wore, Star thought to herself. But what was peculiar to her was the fact the child seemed much younger than he did before for some strange reason. Star began to wonder if she was just seeing things.

"Oh, Orion, sweetie," God-Mother went to pick the small boy up on her arms. "Mommy's been looking all over for you. Time for your nap my sweet little burrito."

"Mother… is she…" the boy pointed his finger.

"Oh, yes. Star, come on over. I'd like you to meet my son. Orion – Orion Starson."

"Starson?" Star raised her eyebrow, "Are you not a Butterfly anymore?"

"Well, I am. But he's not. Because I ended the monarch long ago. I am Republic, and this is our country."

"And look at that," Star said. "He has cheek marks. And you don't. What is that there? A balance scale symbol?"

"Yes, that's his symbol. The symbol of a New Mewman. We here on New Mewni can choose to have a mark. Some of us have marks, some of us don't."

Star looked deeply into the boy's glistening blue eyes, only to now finally see the resemblance. Not just between the boy and his mother – but to herself as well. That pale complexion, the facial features, and the single golden streak of hair in the middle of his chestnut colored hair. A color that Star immediately recognized. The boy's hair was combed and slicked back neatly, but that was a color she could recognize anywhere. Star was once naïve, and a little slow to understand foreign alien cultures. But Marco had given tremendous positive influence over her life, so much that now she could confidently put two and two together to deduce who the father of the boy was.

So she remained silent, knowing who he was, knowing the memories that would remind God-Mother of.

"Aww… I guess… he is pretty cute," said Star, caressing the young boy's head. To which God-Mother responded with a cheerful nod.

"Come on, Orion, sweetie. It's time for you to go to bed."

"Will you read me a bedtime story, Mother?" He said shyly.

"Of course, honey, of course," She lowered him into the crib where he laid there tucked in neatly beneath a white blanket. "So which story do you want to hear?"

"How about… one of Auntie Eclipsa's harvests?"

"Oh, but you've heard those a thousand times already," God-Mother smiled. "How about I tell you the story of the Demonic Septarian Prophet who delivered his people out of bondage? Have you heard that one?"

He shook his head.

"Well then, ahem – long ago, before the time of man, in a place far, far away. There lived a young handsome monster who did not quite fit in with his fellow brethren. He was taller than other monsters, he did not have a tail like the others, and his skin was as crimson as the red shades of the Blood Moon. People from far and wide would often speak of him as an enigma, an oddball. Wondering about the true nature of this monster, wondering if he was even a monster to begin with. The red monster did not eat like the other monsters ate. He did not trade like the other monsters did. Instead, he was a loner, wandering the long rocky road as if cursed to never know love or companionship."

"Was he cursed by a witch, Mother?"

"Nobody knows," She continued. "Because the only thing the people really knew for sure about the red monster was that he was capable of miracles none had ever seen before. It is said that he could part the sea into two, grow wheat out of barren wastelands. And some rumors even purported that he could make the blind see again."

"Wow."

"One day, unexpectedly, the red monster encountered a traveling stranger on the lonely road he often walked. A young woman with light pale purple skin and lovely teal hair."

"Like Auntie Eclipsa?"

"Yes, that's right my little Constellation. Like Auntie Eclipsa. The woman was far from home, unfamiliar with her current whereabouts, and most alarmingly of all – she did not seem to know a way back home. The red monster pitied the woman, and wanted to give her a hand and guide her safely back home. But one thing led to another, they eventually became friends."

"Are they good friends, Mother?"

"Even more than that, my son. They were best of friends. In fact, it is said that their bond was so strong that it could ripple across time and space itself. They say that if you stand near the crashing waters on a shoreline, and stick your ears to the ground – you would be able to hear the waves crashing fiercely against a mighty cosmic steel chain. That sound of steel is the sound of their bond, their love for one another."

"Wow…"

"Alas, they knew that their time together would be cut short eventually. For the woman and the monster were from different worlds. With the world of monsters be that of people enslaved under the power of massive kingdoms, _her kingdoms._ Tied down by heavy shackles that echoed across generations. The red monster felt love and companionship for the first time in his life when he was with the woman. But deep down inside he has also felt the love for his own people, despite them shunning him from their circles."

"What did he do then, Mother?"

"Well… he did the only thing he could think of. The ultimate and most profound show of sacrifice, for both the sake of the woman, his friend, and for his people. To perform the most magical miracle he has ever done thus far – to grant the woman the gift of life, the gift of a child. Not born through flesh and blood, instead a child born from the stars. Fallen out of the sky in the form of a meteorite. A child who bore the blood of the woman, _and_ the blood of the monster – the blood of two worlds. It was the most breathtaking miracle, but also the most tragic. For in order to create life of this extraordinary nature, a life must be given up as equivalent exchange. A life – for a life."

"Oh no."

"The red monster sacrificed himself, so that the woman could then return home safely, now with a child in her hand. For they both knew one day; it may not be the next day, or the next week, or even the next month or year. But one day – that child will be the bridge to connect the two worlds, returning to her people to deliver the monsters out of bondage at last."

"So did the child and the woman do it?" Orion asked. "Were the monsters finally free?"

God-Mother smiled softly onto her son.

"Yes," She said, "yes they did. And they lived happily ever after."

With that – the boy's tired eyes rested from the magic of the story at last, to dive deep into the vast kingdom of Dreams, drifting away on clouds. The boy looked so peaceful as he laid there, caressed gently by God-Mother before she kissed him softly on his pale silent forehead.

He was so young, so little, seemingly so helpless. And God-Mother's cosmic Heart could not be fuller.

"I've never heard that story before," Star whispered. "Is that your universe's version of Mewnipendance Day or something?"

God-Mother glanced up at the girl, smiling softly:

"No… it's a story of one of the universes out there, somewhere – in deep space."

She paused for a brief moment.

"You asked what happened to me," God-Mother continued. "You want to know if your future will look anything like this. That – I cannot tell you. Not because I do not know the answer. But because the only thing you need know is that I love my son… and… I loved my family… no… I love my family. I've lived for a very long time, Star. Longer than you can even imagine. But what I said before was the truth, I really do miss my youthful bliss. Back in the days where we could just hang out with Marco, sit on the couch all day and snuggle while watching a movie. Those were the good old days, simpler days. But… motherhood… it gives you perspectives. Not just being a mother to a son, but a mother to a people as well. A mother to a country – a Republic. But all of that – they will mean nothing if we do not stop the Forces of Evil. You are an honored guest here, so are your other three-dimensional family and friends. So I welcome you to stay here on New Mewni for as long as you need. Just know one thing – a holy war is coming."

"When?"

"Long ago, now, and in the future. It has always come, even before this new era of the Meta Gods. Meta Gods existed long ago as well, under different forms perhaps. But the holy war will come – and that is an inevitability – the cosmic truth."

* * *

Janna and Moon wandered around in the vast endless hall of artifacts, with floors so shiny one could easily see their own golden reflections within the smooth surface they walked on. Pillars of white marbles were placed all around them, stretching far above into a ceiling so deep that it looked as if the pillars were just spiraling straight into the night's cosmic sky, it was like there were no ceiling at all.

Hanging on the wall were murals the size of buildings, draping down from far above. Images depicting things Moon had never seen before, and yet was still so familiar. Imagery Moon recognized that of Mewman's, but reinvented in this new strange world.

At the bottom of these pillars were numerous wooden cases and shelves housing these strange artifacts, almost like a museum of some sort. Some of them were strange boxes with electrical circuitry running through them, some were bizarre devices like a computer with three screens and its keyboard placed on the top. Others were miscellaneous memorabilia – golden rings, pendants, fairy tiaras, mechanical gloves, silky fabric, mini model trains, figurines of varying sizes, tiny angel wings, hover boots, music boxes and even numerous different types of golden fountain pens.

Walking forth a little further and they could even see weaponry with modified technology on these shelves as well. A sword with a heavy golden mechanical hilt, and spear with two massive robotic gloves attacked to the handle. And various space rifles with green sparkling energy oozing from their capsules and their magazines. There were even various whole sets of armor on display, a whole line of them, held up behind large glass boxes made of what looked like Rhombulus's crystals. Though the crystal-like surface did look slightly different, slightly more golden and greener. Moon had never seen armors so colorful, beaming with bright electrical parts running through each of the individual pieces.

"Now this… this is really something," said Janna. "This alternate version of Star is filthy rich."

"Try not to touch or move anything," Mariposa appeared behind them to their shock, leaning against a pillar. "Not like you have the strength to move anything anyway."

"What do you mean?" Janna asked.

"That over there for instance," Mariposa pointed to one of the displays, "is a book of infinite pages. If you can lift that book, you get to rule New Mewni."

"Whoa, challenge accepted," Janna pulled up her sleeves.

"You know that was a joke, right?"

"No take-backsies," and thus, Janna proceeded to struggle for the next half an hour. Although how time worked on New Mewni was a little vague.

Standing in front of a wooden stand, there Moon stood over a peculiar golden helmet. It had horns placed on the back of the dome, pointing forward almost like that of a bull's horns. The golden polish was impossibly shiny, even more glossy and glistening than most mirrors. The helmet stayed there, displayed above a rectangular box that was easily the length of a whole human. The box may have been even taller than Moon herself if she were to stand it upright by her side, and Moon was a rather tall woman.

Moon proceeded to flick open the lid of the box, pulling it over the golden hinges to see inside – there laid a long peculiar golden staff being caressed by a layer of thick crimson cloth underneath. At the tip of the staff was a crescent shaped staff head, curving upward from where it was attached. There were also other minuscule buttons crafted onto the handle, little pads of circuitry lightly sparkling the moment the lid of the box swung open for Moon to see.

"That belongs to God-Mother," said Mariposa as Moon turned her head. "That's the Spear of War. The crescent tip there is where the Blade of Ouroboros would go. God-Mother would wear that helmet and brandish the Spear when She went into battle back in the old days. Back when… She was still the God of War."

Moon stood there stunned, in absolutely disbelief:

"My daughter… She was a War God?"

"In some ways… She still is," said Mariposa. "But… that was before… before Orion – Orion Starson."

"Starson? That… is her son?"

Mariposa nodded her head.

"I… I have a grandson?"

And to that, Mariposa responded with a kind smile, wrapping her arms around the former queen.

"Come on, let me show you around the Citadel some more. Then when Orion wakes from his nap, maybe we'll go pay your grandson a visit."


	13. God of Mercy

"Where are we going?" Moon asked Mariposa as they walked down a hallway painted in bright sparkling mahogany.

"Just… a little bit longer now. We're nearly there."

Moon still could not believe she was standing in the presence of a godly kingdom. Under normal circumstances she deduced that since this place existed on a higher plane, mortals like her wouldn't be able to actually see this place. Glancing all around in all four directions would just give her some blurry blobs with a mishmash of colors. But this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, to gaze upon the red carpets that spanned these halls, with silk shining so bright she would often have to cover her eyes if she looked directly upon it.

The masonry was immaculate, with bricks arranged on the walls in strange fashion; aligned in a certain alternating pattern one moment she glanced upon it. And the moment her eyes were to wander off then gaze back to that same spot once more, the pattern would've already shifted to something entirely different. No matter how much she tried to decipher how this super structure was built, she was continuously left in awe and confusion, no closer to any actual answer.

"This way," Mariposa led her down a narrower hallway, one that Moon could've sworn was not there before.

"So, I know this isn't really the best time to be bringing this up," said Moon. "You once said that the cause of that demon boy Tom's death was a little unclear, and that you do not know how this Evil God actually killed him."

"You're right… this really isn't the best time to bring this up."

"I know, I know, but I want to know… no, I _need_ to know. It's an important matter."

"You wouldn't understand it regardless if I tell you."

Moon paused for a brief second.

"Wait a minute… this means – you know, don't you?"

"Pardon?"

"You know how the Evil God killed the Tom boy, don't you?" Moon repeated. "You're just not telling me. After all, you god species are infinite and eternal, are you not?"

"Just because we are infinite and eternal in one sense doesn't mean we are infinite and eternal in _all _senses."

"I'm afraid I don't follow."

Mariposa pulled forth her fountain pen as the god device sparkled with electrical energy. She held it up for Moon to see as she drew across a horizontal line that magically appeared in midair.

"Take a look at this line," said Mariposa. "It is one dimensional in nature, meaning all it can ever have is length. Compare that to say, a square," Mariposa then proceeded to draw in extra lines, forming a shape, "which has both length and width – hence it is two dimensional. Following so far?"

Moon remained silent, as Mariposa continued:

"No matter how long a one-dimensional line stretches, it will never ever have any area, even if the length is infinite and eternal. Similarly, a two-dimensional square will never ever have any volume. And so on, so forth, ad infinitum."

"Yes… I believe you've explained this once before."

"But I never told you the reason _WHY_ it is like this in the first place, didn't I?"

"No… I suppose not."

"All things are bound by natural laws and Reality," she explained. "But Meta Gods are instead bound by cosmic written laws and traditions. The upcoming Summit between the Five Houses of Representatives will be a gathering of gods from across the cosmos, it is the most significant event that has ever and will ever occur. Some foreign gods will be attending as well."

"You mean this Summit has happened before?"

"Past, present, future, yes, it has happened before, and will continue to happen as the gods gather to pass on laws that will echo across all time and space, dictating what gods are and are not allowed to do through a long bureaucratic process. We are infinite, yes, but we also have limits."

"That's… a paradox," Moon commented.

"To you, maybe. A paradox is only a paradox to people who do not have the answers. This is the main reason why what I told you about the God of Evil is the truth. We do not know exactly how Tom was killed, because the God of Evil is incredibly powerful. His methods are… hard to grasp, to say the least."

"I'll get to the bottom of it no matter what," Moon clenched her fist. "I'll investigate this on my own, even if you don't help me."

To Moon's surprise, Mariposa shook her head in response.

"We're here," she told the former queen, as the two stopped in front of a large metal door. "I want to show you something."

"We… we're not going to see my grandson?"

"Well, we will," she shook her head. "But not right now. This is important."

Right behind this tall metal door lied a world of vast grassy fields, stretching beyond as far as the eyes could see. With the flowers and the green grass fluttering rigorously, whistling bright somber tunes of the great bright sun. Moon was shocked to see an entire plane of existence being fitted behind a small door, making her realize how much she had underestimated the size of the Citadel.

There far into the distance, beyond vast empty fields of dancing grass – was a lone single old oak tree. And beneath that tree was none other than the God-Mother Herself. Standing there tall, with both Her hands clasped behind Her. The golden gloves of power still radiated strong god energy despite it seemingly being inactive.

Without another moment wasted, God-Mother raised Her right hand up high above Her, and closed Her fist. Instantaneously the golden glove lit up with violent electrical currents running through Her body, forming into what looked like a lightning lasso. Before Moon knew it, the grassy ground itself was being pulled by the Force of God-Mother, pulling both Moon and Mariposa to where God-Mother stood without either of them lifting a foot off the ground.

"Whoa, what the…" Moon cried as she struggled to keep her balance.

"Don't worry," said Mariposa, "you'll get used to it."

"I'm glad you're here, mom," Star said. "I… I miss you… you know?"

"Well, I'm here now."

"There's something I want to show you," Star extended Her hand to Moon.

And she gladly accepted.

Finally, in full view, Moon could now see what Star was standing in front of – a tombstone.

There engraved on the grey rock slab was the name – _Moon Butterfly, the God of Mercy._

Its epitaph read:

_To love your kingdom is to know they are flawed_

_To love your family is to see the face of God._

Moon stood there in silence, letting the soft wind caress her blue hair as it fluttered by. Falling down by her cheeks were sparkling tears she was shedding – not knowing why or how, as her hand gradually held onto Star's golden grip tighter and tighter with each passing moment. And when she looked over to her daughter, she witnessed the same thing, crystalized frozen tears wetting Her face.

"Killing a god is never a simple thing," Mariposa explained. "No two deaths are ever the same. Some god choose to reincarnate in a different vessel. Others choose the path of inexistence, or in other words – oblivion. Then there are others who die due to lack of believers. So many different things."

"No matter what era I am in," Star's tears kept on falling. "No matter the time, no matter the planet, there is always one thing I am certain of… I – am – your – daughter. And that is the source of my biggest shame. The burden I carried when I was the God of War. My wrath and lust for vengeance clouded me. It killed my mother… it killed any ounce of Mercy left in the multiverse. I'm… I'm sorry mom. I was supposed to be better… but I couldn't…"

"Star…" Moon placed her hand on God-Mother's shoulder. Not entirely sure of what to say, how to comfort her own daughter. And that alone was enough to shatter her heart.

Moon then suddenly felt something tugging at her dress, turning her head around and she surprisingly found a young teenage boy in peculiar yellow clothing standing next to her. A boy she could've sworn was not there before they arrived.

"Are you… my grandma?" The boy asked, looking at her with his innocent blue eyes.

Star wiped the tears off Her eyes to then struggle a smile on Her face.

"Mom…" She said, "this is Orion – Orion Starson."

For the first time since the Cleaving of the universe, since the darkest days that loomed over Moon and her family following the death of the demon boy, Moon felt a small speck of hope igniting within her eyes as she laid her eyes on the young boy. The tears of a mother trying to comfort her daughter was frozen, replaced by the tears of shame – for how could a traitor such as Moon herself deserve to have a grandson?

"He's… he's beautiful," Moon sniffed as she picked up the young boy, to then see him smile brilliantly. "Look, he's got your eyes."

Star responded with a warm grin, as She walked over, patting Her son on the head.

"I… I will do anything for my kingdom… for my family," Star said, as She took Orion in Her hands. "But I don't know how much longer I can do this. I have been fighting my husband for too long. Even before the age of the Meta Gods, before we even met."

"Right… your… husband," Moon twiddled her thumbs. "My mother, your grandmother… the queen before me passed away before I could become a proper queen. She couldn't be there for me, and I couldn't help but feel that was the price I had to pay for never appreciating her enough, for not being there for her when she needed me. I've regretted it ever since. I can't change the past, but I am here now, with you. And I promise – I'll never leave you."

"You really mean that?" Star asked.

"Of course. You're my daughter."

"Thanks… mom…"

Moon widened her eyes the moment she saw Star put Her son down, as Moon now realized she was falling backwards to what felt like an infinite dark void. When she hit the bottom, she felt the gravel and dirt breaking her fall. Turning around to see where she was, and she saw beneath her where she sat was a black coffin coated with a golden brim. Looking up from where she had fallen, she was shocked to see that the one who had pushed her in was none other than God-Mother Herself, her own daughter. Pushing her down this grave beneath the hole, one she was certain wasn't dug up just mere seconds ago. There was no shovel around to be seen, and yet there was a hole right here where she stood, with Star, Mariposa and Orion now hovering above her as if they were looking down from the heavens.

"Star?"

"I will do whatever it takes to fight the Forces of Evil, mom. That – is a god promise. Thus it can never be undone."

"Don't worry Mrs. Butterfly," Mariposa shouted down. "The process of soul fusion shouldn't take long. You'll feel like yourself again soon enough after being buried."

"Star?" Moon looked about in confusion as electrical currents began rising from the ground at the snap of God-Mother's fingers. Growing forth like young grass born from dirt and soil. The night was growing cold, and the wind was blowing bold. What was an afternoon sky had now suddenly turned to dusk, with the stars far above in the sky rotating around the planet they stood on, spinning at an unimaginable speed. The electricity grew stronger and stronger, with every crackle of thunder drowning out the scream of the former queen, echoing in the dark void as she fell further and further into a vast sea nothingness.

"STAR!"


	14. God of Resurrection

"Dennis, wake up!" Ludo shook his brother by his collar.

"Hmm… no, dad, please, not the stickers…" he mumbled in his sleep.

"WAKE UP! Dang it," Ludo shouted as he slapped him across the face.

"Wah! I'm up, I'm up. What's happening? Where am I? Where are we?"

"That's what I wanted to ask you, I thought you knew. Last thing I remember was us being pulled by this tall blond lady into space. I thought we were going back to Mewni."

"Ludo… this definitely does not look like Mewni."

Far in the distance were vast lands of empty sand, seemingly stretching far beyond into infinity. With peculiar loud orchestral horns blowing alongside the rubble being carried up small sand hills by the strength of the wind. With every slow breath of trumpet, the sand of this land was gently blown off heaps of stone pillars in the distance that moments ago seemed buried beneath the ground.

The striking sunrays had done a number on both Ludo's and Dennis's vision, they concluded, as only now did they notice that they too were sitting on top a towering stone pillar. One so tall it might as well be the height of a small mountain.

And it seemed to be unfinished construction, too. For the moment they turned their heads to look the other direction their eyes were met with a whole row of pillars stretching far beyond into the distance, leading a line towards a great majestic stone pyramid that towered straight into the heavens. The yellow stones of this grand monument shined like it was made of gold bars. Elegant and heavy, with every block.

And for every block placed in where they should be, another one was painfully hauled from stone quarries far away. Pulled by strong ropes on the aching shoulders and sweating foreheads of slaves.

And there beneath the pillars, far away on the ground – the slaves could be heard singing:

"_With the sting of the whip on my shoulders… _

_With the salt of my sweat on my brow. _

_Elohim! God on high, can you hear your people cry:_

_help us now – this dark hour?"_

_DELIVER US!_

Standing above the slaves were their angry masters, in one hand a leather whip to lash at those who were dying under the sun. In the other hand a large horn to signal slaves and slavers from afar, calling for more stone blocks to be pulled into large temples where workers hauled away large carts of hay, large barrels of water, mixing into the mud to create a strong binding agent for these large slabs to be in place, carved expertly by master stonemasons. They worked tirelessly without rest or even room to breathe. So much so that both Dennis and Ludo could smell the indistinguishable scent of their breath, their sweat and their blood evaporating into the top of the tall stone pillar where they sat observing from on high.

"They're… slaves…" Dennis commented. "But they don't look like monsters. And they don't look like Mewmans either. At least not the Mewmans I usually see. They have a strange darker complexion, don't you think?"

"Are we absolutely sure we're not still on Mewni?" Ludo asked. "It's a vast world after all. I once got blasted through a bunch of portals through vast distances of space after our castle was blown to bits, you know. And then I ended right back up on Mewni without even realizing it. Maybe this is some exotic undiscovered location on the other side of the globe."

"But I've never read about any place on Mewni like this. Not even in my books cataloguing the various dimensions and universes. Just look at that over there."

Dennis pointed his finger to a large monument even bigger than the pyramids next to it. It had what seemed like a large ordinary looking Mewman face. But on top its head was a strange almost triangular head piece with horizontal stripe carvings. Most peculiarly were the catlike paws built at the very base of the monument, making this whole statue seemed like one of an animal of some kind, one with a Mewman face.

"Have you seen anything like that before?" Dennis asked. "I sure haven't, and I've plowed through a ton of books I'll have you know. If it was something on Mewni or even in a neighboring dimension, there would've been some records of it."

"Wait a minute, those are library books, aren't they? The ones I borrowed a long time ago back when I took the castle?"

"Yeah, what about it?"

"OH NO! Those books are overdue." Ludo shook Dennis by his collar, "We have to return them to the Butterfly castle's library immediately!"

"That's what you're worried about right now? Are you serious?"

"Deadly serious, Dennis. Now that Castle Avarius is back in its full glory, we have a reputation to keep as its rightful owner. We must return those books at once."

"Sometimes I wonder if I get you addicted to stickers you would stop being as crazy as you are right now."

Just as Dennis finished that sentence, a loud crackling noise was heard just a few meters beneath where the two of them sat. Loud enough for them to jump at their beating hearts, spinning their heads to look down below and there to their horror was the crack in the pillar, widening with every second they stared downward.

"Oh no. HANG ON, Ludo!"

"You can fly… right, Dennis?" Ludo instantly grabbed onto Dennis's shirt. "Please tell me you can fly."

"I don't know! It's not like we Kappas would regularly jump off cliffs or anything!"

"Well, then we're about to find out!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

And into the stone temple they fell as the tall pillar tumbled off from on high. Cracking intensely with tiny rubble crumbling apart. Dennis and Ludo held tight onto each other before Dennis realized that they would all dive straight onto the rough hard sand far below if he didn't at least attempt to take flight.

So fighting off his initial hesitation, he quickly managed to spread his wings with Ludo holding tightly onto his neck. Feathers were flying all about as their never-ending scream echoed across these vast halls.

"You're doing it, Dennis!" Ludo shouted as he closed his eyes, "We're flying, we're flying!"

"NO, Ludo! I… I can't," he flapped his arms vigorously, "AAAH! Ludo, do something! Help me!"

"What? AH, look – rope!"

"Grab it!"

Within the last possible moment before the dangling rope got out of range, Ludo snatched it up using his sharp beak. It must've hurt his jaw like hell, Dennis thought to himself. So he quickly grabbed onto the tail end of the rope to ease his brother of the weight, tying it around his arm and his thigh for better security before holding back onto Ludo, determined to not let go as they swung back and forth in this massive unfinished temple. Swinging beneath dark ceilings and crumbling walls that spat out sand onto their eyes.

The swinging was strong, landing them hard against a wall opposing where the stone pillar fell down to create a massive commotion down where the slaves were working. Fortunately for them beneath the wall where the two of them smashed their face onto was a stone platform that seemingly manifested out of the darkness of the unfinished temple. The two leaned hard against the wall, clinging onto the dirt and terrified that they may fall down further if they let go of the wall.

"Let's… never do that… again…" Dennis panted, clenching his chest.

"Oh, I wish Spider was here," said Ludo. "She could've let us swing around with her webs."

"What about Bird? She could help us fly around couldn't she?"

"Who?"

"Oh… never mind."

It was at that moment when both Kappa brothers felt a light tap on their shoulders which quickly prompted them to spin around to face a stranger who had crawled out from a hole in the wall. They were prepared to defend themselves before Ludo was struck by the sight of a familiar face. A face of an old rival – the face of Star Butterfly.

But to his shock as he looked closer, this wasn't Star. But merely a woman who looked eerily like her, with long silky hair over her shoulder and glistening eyes. The difference here was the woman had dark black hair and pretty brown eyes. Her complexion was a lot darker than Star as well. The woman wore on herself a long dress with a red silky cloth wrapping around over her head and her neck. She stood there before them in her bare feet, but there was no doubt about it, her facial structure looked nearly identical to that of the young Mewman girl.

"Why do you look like Star Butterfly?" Ludo asked. "Are you a long-lost twin sister or something?"

"This is the Princess Star Butterfly?" Dennis asked. "I've never seen her in person before."

"Maybe she also has 50 brothers and sisters."

The woman gave the two brothers a concerned look with her glimmering eyes, before singing aloud:

"_Yaldi hatov veharach_… _Al tira ve'al tif'chad…"_

"What?" Ludo cried out, confused.

The woman wasn't speaking Mewman. She went on and on, talking of things neither of them understood.

And yet by some bizarre cosmic miracle – Dennis gradually came to understand more and more of what the woman was talking about. His mind was getting dizzy, flooded with incoherent thoughts and sounds that penetrated from all directions.

Despite her clearly still speaking in this new foreign language. What Dennis was hearing were words in the language he himself understood. It was as if his own ears were equipped with a highly advanced translator of sort.

Thus, what he heard her say was thus:

"_Come with me, for I sense holy things within you two. I am in need of your help."_

"What are you talking about lady?"

"Wait a minute, you can understand her, Dennis?"

"Um… yeah. I don't know how. She's clearly not speaking our languages. But I can understand her just fine. It's like there's something inside my head helping me hear what she's saying. What about you? Can you understand her?"

"Nope. Nothing here," Ludo tapped on his own skull.

"That's weird."

"_Come, come quickly! We must make haste," _said the woman, as Dennis struggled to translate for his brother, the woman signaled them to come into the hole where she came from. Continuing to say: "_Pharaoh's men know someone is up here. We must run before they find us. There is much we need to do. For my son has been rescued from the water by the daughter of Pharaoh. Come see."_

Dennis and Ludo stood there, hesitating from this stranger. But her insistent hand waving for them to come to her was almost hypnotic to a point. And plus, it wasn't like the two of them had anywhere else to go. Taking shelter with this woman may be the wise choice.

* * *

"_Come, come,"_ said the woman as the three of them descended from tall patches of grass next to a riverbank.

As Dennis and Ludo emerged through the grass, they were shocked to see the woman who were leading them down this path, the one who looked eerily like Star, to now suddenly look like someone else entirely. Another woman with raven dark hair, whose facial structure was completely different from Star, a lot rounder and firmer with a gentle vibe of an elderly parent looking out for her own children. Her voice began to morph as well, sounding a lot lighter than the heavier voice before.

"Psst, Dennis, where did the woman go? Who is she?"

"I don't know, she was just here a moment ago. Is she the same woman?"

"_Come quickly,"_ the woman waved her hand, still speaking this strange language. "_Look there down the river, my brother confronts the Pharaoh."_

And sure enough what she said was true. There near the water was a man holding up a wooden staff up high in the sky, directing his frustration and conviction at a king in his silky robe riding on his vessel in the middle of the river, most likely on his daily luxurious afternoon stroll.

The man who stood there with his wooden staff held up high wore a thick heavy red robe. It was soaked in the water up to his knees as he stood there looking up into the sky. A storm was brewing, and it was getting closer and closer to this strange sandy kingdom.

Stormy wind blew stronger and stronger, caressing his dark beard and flowy locks of hair, carrying his scent to the distance almost as if to attract nearby passersby. The crowd was beginning to gather, beneath their breath they whispered confusedly to one another, wondering what the man in the red robe was doing. Before they quickly withdrew in fear of the approaching soldiers from Pharaoh's vessel. No doubt, ordered to arrest the man in red.

"_Look there,"_ the woman tugged on Dennis's arm, pointing down the river. "_Look, there is my brother Moses."_

With a decisive motion the man brought down his wooden staff to slam it to the water with righteous willpower of a holy strength granted from on high. A holy essence that Dennis somehow felt deep down in his gut the moment the staff made contact with the water. It oozed out of his own body in a strange spiritual way he could not explain. But he felt it all the way from afar, just merely witnessing this man driving his wooden staff down. To see the thunderous storm clapping along with the man's conviction and to then witness Pharaoh's men withdraw in fear of the power vested in this peculiar staff.

"_He is a man of God you see,"_ the woman commented. "_Commanded by our Lord as he came to him through the burning bush. The fire of the heaven showed him to an old burial site where a strange small stick of some kind and a box was buried beneath a strange contraption. Inside that box was a pair of blades. When he went to pick up the stick as God instructed, the stick morphed into a snake for a brief moment before turning into that wooden staff you see right there. And with the staff and God's will in his hand – there you see, he performs the miracles of God."_

Thus, oozing out of the wooden staff was crimson color leaking into the water of the river. The red spread slowly at first, only surrounding a small area around the man called Moses before everybody else quickly realized that the red was spreading from elsewhere as well.

From far corners of the river miles away from where both Moses and Pharaoh's vessel were, to the small puddles lying idle next to the muddy grassland, to even the golden bowls of water upon Pharaoh's vessel. Bowls that laid at his throne washing his feet, all gradually turning a dark shade of crimson. Even the goblet where he drank from was not safe from this unsightly transformation.

"Look there, Dennis," Ludo pointed his finger. "The river – it's red. That's so crazy!"

"How?" Dennis scratched his head. "What on earth is going on?"

"_Come, come,"_ the woman waved at the two brothers, "_come and see the miracles of our God. He wields an ancient artifact granted from forces on high. A Meta artifact, as it is said in various lost ancient scriptures that anyone who could wield Meta powers would wield the terrifying power to change the world. It is a holy power, that us mere mortals cannot use as if it is our own, only harness or borrow from God above. Hosanna, he will deliver us Hebrews out of bondage."_

The staff in Moses hand began to morph ever so slightly as the man stepped back out of the water to let the blood spread, staining this long river. Almost as if the wooden staff itself was alive and hissing. But in Moses's firm hand he carried the will to tame the animal cursed by God long ago. It was a hand that would not waver, one that would not hesitate to clench nor be afraid to back down from the dark hearts of tyrants. The tyrant that was the Pharaoh who held an iron grip over these crying Hebrew slaves.

But alas, the heart of a tyrant was prone to hardening, so this was merely the beginning. The beginning of Moses delivering God's miracles to the land of Egypt, right as Dennis began to feel something crawling inside his gut, making him dizzy and a little queasy. So much so it became difficult to even stand up straight.


	15. God of Suffering

A tyrant sat on his throne, looking out onto a vast world where disasters were slowly taking over the vast sandy kingdom of Egypt. This was the beginning of the wrath. Carried on powerful winds traveling from the North, the South, the East, the West, the heavens, the hells. Crawling from the dirt were spawns of foul sickness burrowed deep in the rotten dead. And striking from the clouds were mighty thunderstorms that slowly hemmed in this kingdom, almost like a hand of a god reaching from far above encompassing this vast piece of land. The signs were all aligning – for there commenced the Plagues.

Thus saith the Lord.

"_Once I called you brother,_

_Once I thought the chance_

_To make you laugh_

_Was all I ever wanted."_

There descended upon the land were foul frogs, toads crawling from the mud. Hatching from the eggs were small tadpoles, they grew so large so fast. As large a ceramic dinner plate, so numerous they flooded the cities to the people's knees. Crawling about, carrying around diseases diabolically. Creeping up walls, sticking to ceilings, laying more eggs as they hopped around.

Beneath the leathery skin of amphibia, the swarms of worms, maggots, crawling from moist dirt emerged from the burning sand. Aaron, Moses's elder brother, laid down the wooden staff on the ground in Moses's place. Striking at the sand and dust to bring forth springs of lice unto men, women, children near and far. Only Egyptian men, those who lived as Hebrews did not need to fear. So numerous they flew, flying from grains of sand on the ground, covering the sky.

_"And even now I wish that God_

_Had chosen another_

_Serving as your foe on his behalf_

_Is the last thing that I wanted."_

There amongst the people and the cattle were the creatures who could bring forth great harm. Wild and untamable, big and small. Some so microscopic to the point the roaming cattle and the people herding them would feel the itch upon their dry skin. There they would try to scratch it off to no avail. Scratching on and on and on, peeling off their own skin, the skin of the cow, the pigs. And still the itch remained.

Animals then roamed freely within the palace of the Pharaoh creating mass chaos within the great house. Guards scrambled about trying to put the animals back in their place, but they were just too wild, and some too small to even catch. What Dennis was seeing as his breath gained more weight by the second were the miniscule creatures roaming the air, so small he was sure not even a microscope could see their true nature.

"_This was my home,_

_All this pain and devastation_

_How it tortures me inside._

_All the innocent who suffer_

_From your stubbornness and pride!"_

There the tension will boil as festering boils began to spread from the palm of the prophet. Moses took the soot from his furnace just as his God demanded and tossed into the air before Pharaoh. It spread like wildfire, as fine powder flying through the air. And before long, the skin of Egypt began to swell. People far and wide could see the swellings on their bodies. In their eyes they witnessed true fear, the panic of not knowing what to do, who to pray to.

Clouds of storms gathered from above just as Egypt looked to the sky for answers, praying to their gods, only to see another people's God summoning forth grey thunders striking unto their monuments. The stone tumbled down from great heights. What was once built thousands of miles off the ground, off the backs and sweat of the slaves now plummeted from greatness. As Moses's Lord sent forth a power never seen before. Consuming all of Egypt in burning ice hailing from the sky. The thunder struck strong, and the people screamed aloud.

"_You who I called brother_

_Why must you call down another blow?_

_Let my people go!_

_Thus saith the Lord!"_

There the locust rode in on the wind, a swarm so large this world had never seen. To devour upon on every leaf, every stalk, every green, swallowing what was left from the damage of the godly hail. Egyptian men tried to ward them off, striking at the near microscopic creatures that fell unto their wheat, their crops. But there were so many.

So many in fact that they began to pile unto the sky, like piling onto a silver plate, balanced on a stick pointed upward. And the plate began to grow larger, with every moment gone by, another of the locust was hatched from their eggs to then join in the swarms and cover up the sun far above them. There the darkness reigned supreme. A darkness so heavy the Egyptians could physically feel it upon their own bodies, pinning down their spirit and limbs. Nobody could see a thing for miles, and nobody could feel a thing, even those just inches away from where they stood.

THUS SAITH THE LORD.

HOSANNA.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?" Dennis yelled as he stood in the middle of Egypt's palace.

But Pharaoh did not seem to have noticed him. There where he sat on his golden throne, he sat with his steely eyes staring forth unto far distant lands. Deep into tall hills where a brother stood for his Hebrews, standing there in his hand a wooden staff filled with Meta powers. A power so strong and heavy, Dennis could feel it all the way from where he stood.

The boy's lungs were getting heavier, every passing second became harder for him to breathe. His feathers hardened as his beak began to dry up. He wanted a drink so badly, but he was starting to hear voices in his head. Low rumbling noises of what seemed like a voice of an animal.

A goat?

It almost felt as if the animal was prancing about in his ears, its hooves clip-clopping around harshly. Digging into his brain with a pain so deep inside he had never felt such thing before. It was alien, and yet it felt like something that had laid dormant inside for years without his knowledge.

The goat spoke.

It whispered a language barren of any meaning to Dennis. But this was not like the language the strange woman spoke earlier. That one despite knowing for a fact that neither himself nor Ludo knew beforehand, Dennis could understand every word she spoke. This, however, was something else entirely. The words of the goat were heavy, it did not mean anything to Dennis, passing by like white noises on a television machine. And yet his gut feeling told him of meaning unbeknownst to him. Not in the form of words, but actions and spirits.

The words guided his attention to Pharaoh, there where he sat on his golden throne, inside his shadow on the wall behind. Cast backward by the flaming cauldrons of the palace – there inside the shadow sat a tall god. A god whose body was larger than his own heavy shadow, whose eyes glowed redder than the blood of the cursed water. He sat there on his throne of scrap and flesh, buried inside the shadow of Pharaoh.

"You are a Meta God," said the god inside the shadow. "I see an old name – Anapel… but we are in a new era. So what name shall I refer to you as?"

Dennis spun his head around, confused as to who it was the god was referring to.

"Don't play games with me now," he shouted, pointing his bony finger. "I know you're hearing voices in your head. It is clear to me more than ever that the process of soul fusion has begun with you. Tell me – who do you hear in your head? Where does your loyalty lie? With New Mewni or New Earth?"

Dennis shook his head:

"I… I don't know."

"Sure you do. Tell me now, who is it!"

"Who are you?" Dennis fell back on the floor, struggling to keep his balance, "Are you the ruler of this place. Are you… Pharaoh? Why do I know that word? What's a Pharaoh? A king? Of… Egypt? What's Egypt? How do I know of this place Egypt? This place… it's Egypt."

But the god in the shadow responded with a smirk:

"Forget this mortal man and his petty feud with his brother. I am far above them. They only know how to wield the Meta. I AM part of the Meta. Now answer the question."

"I… I…"

With one swift look of his demonic gaze, his eyes lit up with the flame of a thousand suns. Burning of supernovas, exploding mini planets inside his eyes. The fire launched forth toward Dennis at an unimaginable speed. Instantly burning off the feathers of his forearm and melting his bones to ashes. His screams of anguish were blocked out by the loud thunderous plasma sparkling around his arm. The heat was intense, and mind numbing. He thought he was going to pass out.

And yet to his surprise his mind remained strong, still conscious as his brain steeled itself. The whisper of the goat became louder inside his ears, echoing like that of a golden bell as a bright light began to surface from his burning forearm. The light was soothing, and it gradually tamed the beastly fire that was consuming his flesh. Swallowing the flame in its embrace to reveal the burned spots and the melted bone.

Only to then coat the injury instantly in a blinding light of holy melody. Wrapping around the burning and the agony. Before Dennis knew it, he opened his eyes to see there before him his arm had completely healed from the flaming eye blasts of the god in the shadow. He turned his arm around, inspecting the surface of his skin to search for any sign of injury, only to in the end find nothing of the sort. In fact, it almost looked as if his skin was that of a newborn baby.

The god in the shadow did not look too pleased.

"Lekmet… I should have known. You are of the God-Mother. You are too loyal to her, and loyalty to that golden country has no use for me. It matters not in the end I suppose. I still have with me… another Meta God on my side. Just recruited from this land. He is Suffering. As you see there beyond the horizon in this vast sandy land, this dark kingdom, are the screams of Pharaoh's people. They Suffer, they moan."

"Wha… what on earth…brrr… brrrrr… brrr… brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr… baaahh… baaaahh… baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! What… what the? What on earth is wrong with me?"

_FATHER! Step away from the goat god!_

The shadow god gleamed furiously into the distance where the gate of the palace was. One moment there was nobody there before them, then the next, a thunderstorm would strike, flashing their eyes to reveal standing above the crimson carpet of Pharaoh was a young man. Lanky, but strong. He wore peculiar golden clothing with electrical circuits running through the fabric, covered behind a shimmering diamond cloak with his chestnut hair flowing in the wind of the plagues. His eyes glistened of a beautiful sky-blue hue, shining like a precious sapphire. And on his cheeks – were marks of a red balance scale.

He stood in the entrance as fire rained down outside behind him, the fire of the darkness spitting from plagues of forces on high. Each fire lit up ever so slightly the details of his angry visage before plunging it all into the darkness that blanketed all of Egypt.

The boy was heavy, Dennis could somehow instinctively feel that. But he could not understand why, and yet his gut feeling understood everything perfectly. The molecules within the golden boy's skin cells, every atom, every quark, every string vibrating with heavenly hymns. These were the voices of the people, prayers of the mortals, echoing from every inch of his body. This body was massive, even if he did not look as such. But his size was indescribable. No word in the mortal language could adequately categorize him.

Why though was Dennis referring to it as a mortal language in his head? The language he knew were Mewman and some local monster tongues. So they were automatically mortal?

"My… son… you are here?" The shadow god muttered, before emerging from behind Pharaoh's throne, shouting, "YOU ARE HERE!"

"Justice is being carried out on this land here," the young boy raised his fist. "The Hebrew slaves fight back, father. They fight your Evil. For the blood of the future, and for Just causes. For the will to be free from chains! This is the feeling deep in my heart, father. The feeling for Just retribution."

The shadow god flew out onto the middle of the palace ground, revealing his true image. The sight of a rock monster in black royal silk and crimson cape was something to behold with awe. His crimson crown was heavy, the struggle to keep those burdens was clear even as he sat on the floating throne of metal. His eyes glowed red beneath the shadow of his stony face. Burning of godly anger.

"You… disrupt me… Starson."

"Let us not forget, father… I am your son, too. And my heart is good, just as it is with God-Mother. It will never be tainted by your darkness."

"Then why is your God-Mother one of Republic and not of Good? Why is the Hebrew prophet raining dark fires from the sky if your path is the path of the light?"

"I have no more words for you, father. We shall meet again soon enough. When the Summit of the gods came. I answer to no Evil god until then. My mission here is Just. As it is decreed from forces on high that the Kappa called Dennis here must be retrieved to New Mewni by the orders of the God-Mother Herself. For his own process of soul fusion has begun."

The Evil god smirked beneath his crimson crown:

"While you wait for your gods to come to terms with their new forms, I have already recruited myself a new servant. I suppose… I shouldn't really be surprised to see you here."

"Your future vision is getting rusty, I see."

"No," he commanded, pointing his bony finger. "You must have heavenly blessings from your Mother, weakening my vision's power in your presence. No matter. Because of course Justice would follow me here when the people Suffer unjustly. Take your Kappa and go. I have my own, take a look."

Flying behind his floating throne was a monstrous creature; an armored bird head with a lanky humanoid skeleton beneath a set of mechanical olive armor coated with golden brims. He wore those green gauntlets over his skeletal forearms, over sharp claws. And over his shoulders were pauldrons in those same shades of green, with a round ruby gem placed within the thick metal.

Covering over the bird's bony thighs were long sets of leg armors, built from strange robotic parts with three mechanical toes on each foot. The same mechanical parts could be found on the bird's massive wingspan flapping violently behind himself. The wings were so massive it could block out the sun far in the sky, and yet somehow it was small enough to paradoxically fit all of its complex machinery within this mortal's palace. There was no question about it, this pair of green steel wings was made from the metal of the gods.

"Ludo?"

Dennis glanced up the bird head to see that familiar face on this stranger. How his eyes looked so angry, and so hungry as well. Like a wild animal, bloodthirsty and untamed. The bird did not speak, nor did he blink, for his Evil God had not commanded him so. And the gods on New Earth would only follow the will of Evil, nothing more, nothing less.

"Do you like the sight of this my son?" The Evil God cackled. "It is glorious, is it not? The armor of a god. Truly magnificent. It is made out of the same material as my throne you know. The most powerful metal in all existence and nonexistence. Nthian metal. Look upon the vast kingdom of sand, see how the slaves mine the indestructible concept metal out of the ground for my New Earth. Look at the slaves my son, look at how strong the metal is!"

"I have nothing else to say to you, goodbye."

The young boy raised his hand, from his sleeves emerged a fountain pen, sparkling of great electrical energy shining over the gold of its tip. And in a split second, Dennis could begin to see his own hands fade away, turning to dust, as his own mind unraveled into the deep cosmos, following wherever the young golden boy was going.

"Time and space are collapsing," said the Evil God. "Surely you have noticed it here, my son. Surely you can hear my voice as you travel with your pen. Don't lie to me, boy. Don't lie… to yourself."

* * *

"Moses…" Aaron, his brother called from afar, climbing up the hill where the prophet stood glancing far into the distant palace. "Moses – the Pharaoh, his heart is still made of stone and ice. It hardens even as the sky darkens. There must be another plague then, mustn't it?"

Moses held on tightly to the wooden staff, shaking where he stood.

"Yes," he said, "I fear that to be the case. Ever since I held this staff in my hand, I feel a quiet rumble from within. I hear the voices from our God clearer than ever. It is as if everywhere I go, I bring the burning bush with me in my hand. The staff burns with a heavenly fire I cannot truly describe. A god fire, god energy. But…"

"But?"

"But there is a power growing inside the Pharaoh's palace. Not a power from his own priests worshipping their false gods. But a power heavy enough to challenge the Meta of the staff."

"Meta? What are you talking about?"

"I… I don't know. I don't know why or how I know that word. I don't know what it means."

"MOSES!"

His sister Miriam called from afar, panting as she approached.

"Slow down," Aaron helped her to her feet.

"It's terrible, Moses. The Hebrews, they are being herded into deep quarries, mining out some strange metal."

"No! That's horrible. What kind of metal?"

"I… I don't know. But it is powerful. I felt the need to kneel and worship the metal, I don't know why. I pray God will forgive me, but the aura of the metal… it… it's overwhelming."

Moses's eyes sharpened, a steely look of conviction rose from inner fires. He clutched his wooden staff and sped down the hill where they stood.

"Where are you going?" Aaron asked.

"To pray, my brother. God must know the answer and guide us from this darkness at last. I fear there is an Evil brewing. An Evil beyond our comprehension."

"MOSES, Look!"

Both Miriam and Aaron pointed their fingers to the sky, there in the dark clouds was a flaming meteorite cutting through the atmosphere. Entering from space of forces on high. Moses first thought it was merely part of the fiery plague of hail, but with the Meta power of his wooden staff he was able to see into far distances no mortal could ever hope or Dream to see.

Upon closer inspection, he realized it was no meteorite at all. In fact, it was a small blade.

And for whatever reason – the blade looked suspiciously like a pair of scissors.

Moses could feel the rumble in his staff, and he trembled at the sight of such power. Something was amiss, he had faith in God, but there was that fear deep down inside that perhaps not even his God, the God of his ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, would know of the answer. It was a fear that he had not known all his life, an alien fear. He suspected that it was planted there by some foreign force. But that would mean to entertain the idea of other divine beings challenging God's power. Even if those forces were in no way equal to God, infinitely weaker than the Lord himself, even so, their existence would be a cause for concern on their own.

And that was a future truly terrifying.


	16. God of Lawful Taxes

"Hear ye, hear ye," a heavenly golden voice echoed across the vast Golden Butterfly City. "The days draw nearer with every breathing second. Be sure to pay your taxes to those you are owed my friends, as it is said in ancient texts – render unto Caesar what is Caesar's. Render unto Dream what is Dream's. Render unto Destiny what is Destiny's. Render unto New Earth Meta Gods what is theirs, and render unto the God-Mother what is Hers. Render unto the Primordial Alphabet gifts of numbers and render unto the Divine Numbers the hymns of poetry. Render unto the Meta what is the Meta's, and remember, to render unto God what is God's, from now until Kingdom Come."

"Aye aye, Lord God of the Taxes River Butterfly," the people in the city square cheered by the trillions, all god citizens of New Mewni. In their bizarre mechanical silky plasma clothing. Raising their hands in approval. Before instantly vanishing into thin air.

It hurt Janna's brain even trying to think about it. It seemed like she couldn't even concentrate right, much less decipher where they had all gone.

"They told me you were coming," said River, opening his arms wide, embracing the young girl in a warm bear hug. "Welcome, you must be that Earth friend of Star. Pleasure, pleasure, pleasure to meet you at last."

River had always been a man of short stature with a healthy amount of bulky strength in his muscles, at least that was the impression Janna got from all the stories Star used to tell about her family and all the photos she saw in Star's compact mirror phone. Photos of her father in wild parties, many of which Star probably forgot to delete.

But the man standing before her right this moment was not like anything she had imagined. He was a big tall man, at least seven feet tall with even more ridiculously large bulky muscles being housed within a large mechanical armor painted of a bright shade of cyan, coated with sparkling gold brims and numerous decorative emblems and symbols of the god language.

The pauldrons were pretty comedically large and round, almost too bulky for the man, and yet his balance remained strong as his heavy metal boots planted itself onto the golden pavement of these vast streets. These boots and these gauntlets were like tree trunks, thick and cylindrical, all with five fingers on each hand. At the center of River's chest was a symbol, a blue crystal crescent moon with a small star shape in the middle. A symbol secured tightly on this large steaming armor, that was more a contraption, an exoskeleton than and actual legitimate practical bodywear.

His golden beard was well groomed and tied together in knots that resembled very much like that of a typical almost cartoonish Viking. With intricate patterns looping in and about like worms, or dragons flying over castles and into deep golden tunnels. River was basically, as Janna saw it, an entirely new man.

Of course, she had to then correct herself as she remembered that he was not a man. He was a Meta God.

"You alright there?" River asked, tilting his head, "You seem a little lost."

"Huh? Oh, right. Yeah," Janna shook her head. "I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine. It's just… I thought I was inside the Citadel a few moments ago. I turned around a corner and here I am, out here on the streets."

"Ah, that's right. You're not familiar with the God World. No matter, no matter. It's not supposed to make sense through mortal eyes."

"And all of this make sense to you?"

"Yes," River nodded his head, smiling from ear to ear. "A coin for the city taxes?"

River extended out a bowler hat which seemingly appeared from nowhere onto his hand.

"Um…" Janna rummaged through her pockets, "sorry, I don't have any money. Only these weird demon charms, bracelets, and earrings I borrowed from Tom…"

A somber look suddenly struck her face.

With River glancing at her, nodding his head.

"Yes, it's a tragedy," he said. "It doesn't matter, you'll pay what's due soon enough."

"So where am I exactly? This looks like some kind of city square. I see streets, but I don't see any street names."

"That's because there is only one road here on New Mewni," he explained. "The Golden Road. I know you humans have a saying, 'all roads lead to Rome' or something like that."

"How do you know about Rome? That's a human expression, and you're a Mewman aren't you?"

"Did you forget?" River laughed.

"Oh, right, right. You're a god, all powerful yaddi yaddi yadda. Omnipotent or whatever."

"We're not omnipotent," he corrected. "But either way, the Golden Road is a contraption built by our God of Deliverance, you probably knew her as Hekapoo back in your old universe. Imbued with a small portion of the Ancient Dimensional Blade, enough to give it strong Platonic force to make it abstract. Meaning we have no need for street signs, because the road here is made out of the literal concept of roads. It can lead us to anywhere – on New Mewni at least. It goes everywhere, and yet all of it comes back to the Golden Butterfly City. Just as all roads lead to Rome, all roads here lead to this City. A shining beacon for wayward lost souls."

"I don't think I can take this insanity any longer," Janna rubbed her temple. "Everything you just said just sounded like gibberish to me."

River produced a hearty laugh, patting the girl on her back.

"I was never good with words I suppose. I used to wrestle bears and hydras, chopping off their heads as trophies of my conquest. And now I collect taxes in this New God World. Crazy eh? But we gods each serve a function, a Meta function. That's why there's no traffic out here on the road. Because many gods don't manifest unless it's absolutely necessary, their true size are absolutely massive, so large they would bend the space around them. Which is why… it has been so strange as of late. So many gods appearing all at once. The Summit draws near, we New Mewmans are preparing the place to welcome some upcoming new guests, Giant Unicorns, did you know that? A rambunctious bunch those Unicorns are. It's always a treat when we welcome those giants. I can't wait for the Summit, and it is coming, tomorrow it comes."

"I've heard of this Summit," she said. "It's supposed to be a gathering of the gods or something, right? I didn't realize that was tomorrow."

"Oh no, I meant tomorrow in the abstract god sense. Apologies, apologies, but if you wait a full day in your human years, nothing would really happen. When it comes, it comes."

"Anyway… have you seen Star around? My Star I mean, not your… um, God-Mother, right?"

"Oh yes, last I saw her she was in the Citadel, with my Star. I am so proud of my baby girl," River shed a tear. "She's grown so strong, if Her mother was here… she would be so proud."

"I… um… okay… well, this is awkward, but we also came here with our version of Star's mom. Have you seen her?"

"Oh, you'll have to ask my Star for that. Since you're our guest here She'll treat you right."

A massive explosion manifested out of thin air above the two of them. Bursting forth with blinding light and furious shockwaves blowing in powerful gusts of wind – there above them a portal had appeared. Inside the spiraling cosmic energies was a figure flying on top a round pink vehicle.

It was the other Janna, the God of Science. She came forth from her mission.

"AH, there you are, Ordy!" River called forth, waving his hand, "Where have you been all this…"

"Not now, River." Science shouted. "Time is of the essence, I come back from the past with terrible news. I have consulted my inner senses, channeling the Machine force in me. I have seen through multiple timelines, calculating the future, and I have news I need to report to the God-Mother. Where is She?"

"In the Citadel," River pointed his finger to all directions, North, West, up and down, inside and out. With his hand twisting back and forth, side to side, to and fro. Almost as if the joints in his bones were made out of jelly. "What's wrong? What have you discovered?"

Science flew up high on her Cloudy, spinning in a great vortex – there she shouted out her heavenly voice for all to hear:

"I KNOW HOW EVIL KILLED THE FLESH TOM!"

Janna widened her eyes, looking up at the god riding on the holy vehicle of unthinkable science and technology. There this god proclaimed she knew the truth that had pained herself and her friends back on Earth all this time. Was it truly that simple?

"And you," Science pointed her finger downward to where Janna was. "You are coming with me. Your existence is perplexing. We should've fused by now. And yet here we are."

* * *

God-Mother's ears were sharp, She heard the booming of the portal as She turned Her head towards the window, facing out onto the vast world of New Mewni.

"Science has returned," She said as Her golden gloves glowed with powerful electrical energy.

"This is all just too weird even for me," Star scratched her head, with dizzy eyes taking the strength out of her breath. "Where is my mom? I need to talk to her."

"She's resting," God-Mother stated. "It's been a long day, why don't I show you to your room as well? Just to rest up."

"I think you need to explain to me something first," said Star pointing her finger at the tall god. "Are we going to fuse or not? If we are why hasn't it happened already?"

God-Mother spun Her head around frantically, and yet Her face remained absolutely calm, stone cold without a hint of emotion or even a hint that She even noticed Star's question.

"Something is wrong," God-Mother said. "There has been an unauthorized entry on New Mewni. Why hasn't the defense system gone off yet? Science will answer to me for this anomaly. This is unacceptable."

"Hey, hey, hey!" Star cried, "Don't try to ignore me now. Answer me, are we going to fuse or not? Because I don't feel comfortable being forced to have my soul taken over by some… other version of me."

"It's nice that you're trying to take charge," God-Mother turned Her head, with a sudden dark expression. "Cute even. But… everything I've explained to you so far, I did out of hospitality. You – understand nothing of this world."

"I have to take charge, what else was I supposed to do? Sit by while one of my friends die? He's GONE! Don't you understand how big of a deal that is? I'm not just going to sit around for that."

"And there it is," said God-Mother, still looking around not paying Star much attention, "you still do not understand what I've been explaining to you since you got here. Your comprehension skills are poor to say the least."

"What?"

"Did you not hear what I said about how we abolished the monarchy here on New Mewni? You did the same on your universe did you not? After the Cleaving of the universe?"

"And? What does that got to do with anything?"

"The monarch was a privilege you have enjoyed all your life. Your magic wand was a privilege," God-Mother clenched Her fist, "but here my power is a responsibility. I wield no wand, no weapon because of that. Everything in my strength is here in the palm of my hands. I take responsibility to protect my people, my country. You are here as my guest, not as a war advisor. So your place is to stay out of these matters. For I have an enemy to attend to."

"Let me help, I can help. If this enemy is as strong as you said then I'll help you. My mom and my friend Janna are here, too. I can't let anything happen to them."

God-Mother's eyes glared with sky-blue electricity, glancing at – something behind Star.

"Star… last warning. Stay out of this."

Great sparks of incredibly dense energy exploded out of the palm of Her golden gloves as the electricity pulled forth spirit butterfly constructs. It made Star spin her head around the room, then glancing above the now empty crib where Orion once laid was a large portal of swirling dark energies. And there crawling out of that dark oozing portal was a figure of large stature, but one who could have easily been mistaken as a cyborg if not for close inspection.

The mechanical body stood easily eight feet tall, towering over both Star and God-Mother, the latter of whom was already incredibly tall Herself. The armor of this thing was heavy, with strong pieces of square metal painted in a purplish shade of crimson, all with silver wires and tubes attaching all over from the back of his wide torso. Each piece of armor was intricately engineered and slotted into one another like a complex puzzle game, with various parts and tubes so incredibly alien to Star that the god vision granted by the God-Mother seemed to almost wear off upon laying eyes on this bulky behemoth, enough for Star to cover her eyes as the darkness engulfed the entire room.

Wrapping around his forearms was a pair of bulky cylindrical contraptions of some kind, they looked like gloves or even handcuffs, but they were each the size of barrels. Simply way too big to be considered an ordinary pair of gloves. Perhaps a futuristic super advanced mega weapon of some kind, Star thought to herself, maybe a pair of arm mounted cannons.

Behind the cyborg on his back was a heavy mounted metal tank, one that looked suspiciously like an oxygen tank, with silver painted rubber tubes going all around his body and upward toward his heavy facemask, one he wore over his pale almost pink complexion. Star was then of course instantly distracted by the bizarre hairstyle placed upon this being's head – large purplish pink hair being combed into a huge crescent shape, styled to have its pointy tip pointed upward, bending a little behind.

The curved hairstyle was so peculiar that Star mistakenly thought it to be a large pink helmet at first. It was of course not helped by the fact that the hair was coated with a silky-smooth surface, of which could have easily been mistaken for a metallic material. On the side of the cyborg's head was a pair of curved horns, of which Star felt… a familiar twinge. The eyes of this cyborg man looked dead as he had no pupils, nothing but a milky white enveloping his gazes – all three of them.

Star's heart instantly sunk the moment she realized the true identity of this massive figure before them, this horrifying sight she was staring into. Her eyes began to tear up, as her hands were held over her mouth.

"T… Tom?"

She fell to her knees, being overwhelmed with emotions, both somewhat glad to see a friend once more but at the same time still absolutely horrified. Convinced she was staring into the gaze of a ghost, a spirit of the dead returning from the grave to care for unfinished businesses. But the large cyborg demon did not seem to even notice Star sobbing on the floor. Instead, it pried open the portal wide, stepping its heavy feet through into the floor of the room, where on the opposite side the God-Mother raised Her palm, aiming heavenly electrical energy at him.

"You're… you're alive?" Star pleaded, "Tom, it's me. Wha… what are you doing here?"

"Get away from him, Star," God-Mother commanded. "He is not alive. He will not speak to you. I shouldn't even refer to that as a he, and more an it. What you are looking at is an empty husk. That thing is called the God of Surviving Flesh. It does the bidding of Evil, it is a rare phenomenon known as a Heavenly Dead Soul. A god with no soul, no will of its own."

"What does that even mean?"

"It means," God-Mother glanced briefly to Star, "you have no business here anymore, mortal Mewman. This is a matter concerning the heavens. Goodbye."

"_HALT YOUR HASTE, God of Republic!"_

A voice echoed from the cyborg's lumbering body as its three demon eyes lit up a cruel crimson, flashing like rubies. The echoes from the breathing apparatus mounted over its mouth could be heard much louder now that there was this demonic aura around it. The steaming skin on its pinkish face slowly turned grey, almost stony. With small cracks beginning to surface underneath its eyes, over the eyelids, and cracking unto its forehead.

The God of Evil was definitely speaking through this empty husk, God-Mother thought to Herself. The coward dared not speak with Her directly. She could not sense his presence nearby, not his stony skin nor his floating metal throne, not even his heavy mass and his crimson crown.

"_I am not here to fight," _Evil said through the cyborg demon. "_I am here – with an offer._"

"I don't take anything from the Devil," said God-Mother. "You are Flesh, undead, that may be the reason why the defense system didn't pick up traces of you. I must investigate. In the meantime – BEGONE! You have nothing I want. I repeat, I shan't take anything from the Devil."

"_Not even if this Devil has secrets you may be interested in?"_

Republic stayed silent, glaring at the cyborg to Star's absolute shock. The silence, to Star, almost seemed like defeat for some strange reason. To think the head god of an entire country would just yield that easily.

Which was when the God-Mother's words began to ring inside Star's head – _you know nothing!_

"_It is known to me, God of Republic,"_ Evil said in a mocking tone, "_that your right hand, the God of Science has learned of my methods. I must commend her, to figure it out in such a short time. And such grave secrets, too."_

"Spit it out! What do you want?"

"_It's simple my dear, you know of my secrets, and I know of yours. Secrets I KNOW for a fact you hide away in shame. So what say we exchange them? You hand over that secret your Science has learned and I'll give you the secrets I keep in the dark."_

God-Mother's sparkling golden glove almost died down at the thought of that suggestion. She was still staring at the demon, the hunk of Flesh tilting its head to the side. Her eyes were steel and strong but contemplating, not as angry as before. Instead, showing what looked to be a hint of compassion, or somber reminiscence.

"_So… what say you?"_

The demon cyborg reached out its hand, hoping for the God-Mother to shake it. Only to then be abruptly blasted away by a powerful green laser traveling at a speed faster than thought. An energy explosion that emerged out of nowhere from outside the window the Citadel.

The demon recoiled in shock, trying to contain the damage done to a part of its gauntlet. It was a single laser blast, and yet the damage was severe. Putting a massive dent on the metal surface, leaving behind a large charred mark, still burning without any flame igniting.

When the demon and the God-Mother turned their heads, glancing outside to identify the source of the weapon – they were shocked to see the God of Science, hovering over her Cloudy, with the barrel of an energy gun sticking out of one of the levers on Cloudy the god was holding onto.

"Here is the God-Mother's answer to your offer," Science declared. "It is a no, from now to the end of time, the end of space, the end of Dimensions, the end of Dreams and Destiny. Begone you spawn of Evil. You have no place here on New Mewni."

The demon growled in pain, still speaking with the voice of Evil:

"_Have it your way. You will regret this."_

And with that, the lumbering cyborg disappeared back into the dark whirlpool of a portal before the swirling shrank smaller and smaller until it disappeared off the face of New Mewni altogether.

"You are safe, God-Mother," Science casually phased through the solid window, hovering above her leader. "I am glad."

"Yes, Surviving Flesh… it did nothing to me, do not worry," said God-Mother with a small hint of disdain.

Of which Science noticed immediately.

"You weren't going to take that offer, were you?" She asked, almost demanding.

To that, the God-Mother responded with a stern glare:

"Know your place, Ordonia. I would not dare question my judgement if I were you."

Science bowed her head, with her gaze still remaining strong, almost as if she was still insisting on questioning the Republic:

"Forgive me, I mean no disrespect."

"You are forgiven… and you," She pointed Her finger at Star. "It's time for you to go away."

With a snap of the finger, an electrical spark ignited the entire room where a small portal opened up behind Star to devour her whole. Before she even realized it, she was once again thrown into the vast sea of endless dark space, tossed into a far unknown destination.

"And now," said Republic to Her trusted right-hand woman, "we need to talk."


End file.
